Inside Citadel Securities' big new Hong Kong hiring
After the Financial Times suggested last week that Citadel Securities had moved a few quantitative researchers away from Hong Kong, it might be supposed that the electronic trading firm isn't hiring much in Hong Kong. That supposition would be wrong. Citadel Securities strongly disputes the FT's version of events. It's committed to Hong Kong and it's hiring there. It's hiring a lot.
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Bloomberg reports today that Citadel Securities has recruited 30 people in Hong Kong already this year, and that the firm intends to continue adding researchers, engineers and traders as the year goes on.
Hong Kong is Citadel Securities' main APAC office. While the firm has hired 30 people in Hong Kong so far in 2026, Citadel Securities has only hired 'more than 10' people each in Singapore and Australia. Vikesh Kotecha, Citadel Securities' head of APAC (hired from Millennium in late 2024) is enthusiastic about Hong Kong. "Hong Kong has one of the strongest and most diverse talent pools in the world, and we are focused on hiring the best researchers, engineers and traders as we continue to grow our business and serve our clients across APAC," he says.
Who does Citadel Securities' Hong Kong hiring look like? Kotecha may be from Millennium but other recent recruits have come from banks. Richar Smerin, the firm's new head of structured products, arrived this week from Morgan Stanley, where he spent the past 17 years. Smerin is building Citadel Securities' new global structured products business out of the Hong Kong office. More jobs in his area seem likely.
Other recent recruits include Redha Achour, the former head of investment grade credit trading for APAC at RBC. We reported that Achour was joining Citadel Securities last year. He arrived in April '25. In September 2025, Savio Joseph, the former head of APAC flow derivatives and solutions sales at UBS, also arrived at Citadel Securities as co-head of APAC sales.
Bloomberg notes that Citadel has been expanding its high touch block trading business in Asia. The firm currently has 13 open vacancies in Hong Kong. Notably, it also has four vacancies in Guguram, a satellite town of Delhi, where the firm has been hiring since at least August last year.
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