Northern Trust has established a securities lending trading desk and appointed a senior foreign exchange sales representative in its Sydney, Australia office. This latest announcement underlines Northern Trust’s continuing expansion across the Asia-Pacific region.

“We are delighted to establish a capital markets presence in Australia,” said Dane Fannin, head of capital markets, Asia-Pacific Northern Trust. “Growing Northern Trust’s geographic footprint in the region maximizes trading capabilities and service for our clients.”

Bun Eng will be the senior trader and client executive for the securities lending business in Australia and New Zealand. He was most recently based in Northern Trust’s Hong Kong office and will continue to work closely with the global team providing clients with an extended trading window and local expertise.

Kia Oboudiyat, senior sales representative for foreign exchange, was most recently based in Northern Trust’s Chicago headquarters where he was responsible for client delivery solutions within the North America investment operations outsourcing implementations team. In his new role in Sydney, he will be responsible for providing client services support and exploring sales opportunities across the Asia-Pacific region.

Northern Trust offers 24 hour coverage across foreign exchange trading desks in London, Chicago and Singapore, providing liquidity in 72 currencies around the world.

“Asia-Pacific is the fastest growing region for Northern Trust and Australia is an important part of that growth,” said Madeleine Senior, head of Australia and New Zealand at Northern Trust. “Our Australian clients are institutional investors with sophisticated requirements and expanding our capital markets business ensures we are best placed to continue to support them, directly from our offices in Australia.”

Northern Trust’s Capital Markets Group has a 30-year track record of providing foreign exchange, securities lending, transition management and institutional brokerage services to its diverse global client base.

The establishment of a capital markets presence in Sydney follows Northern Trust’s acquisition of institutional equity brokerage business, Aviate Global, which brought a second Australian office for Northern Trust. Most recently it announced it had hiredBen Brownette as a research analyst, expanding its local research capabilities in Australia. Together, Northern Trust’s offices in Sydney and Melbourne offer a comprehensive range of customized asset servicing, asset management and capital markets solutions to its institutional and investment manager clients.