HONG KONG--(BUSINESS WIRE)--BGC Partners, Inc. (NASDAQ: BGCP), a leading global intermediary to the wholesale financial markets, has appointed Vanessa Ko as Director, Regional Head of e-Commerce for Asia Pacific. Ms. Ko will spearhead the continued expansion of BGC’s electronic coverage in the region with the roll-out of BGC’s electronic platform, BGC Trader, for multiple new products over the coming year.

Ms. Ko joined BGC in 2005 as a product manager for credit and has been responsible for the rapid expansion of electronic brokerage in products including Japanese CDS and Asian CDS Indices, Australian Corporate Bonds and Government Bonds.

BGC has also promoted Norliza Kamardin as Associate Director of e-Commerce for Asia. Ms. Kamardin joined BGC in 2008 from Tullett Prebon as a product manager for e-Commerce, covering FX Options, CDS and US Treasuries. As Associate Director for e-Commerce, Ms. Kamardin will be responsible for the marketing and day-to-day operations of BGC’s electronic products for Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan and Australia. Norliza will report to Vanessa Ko.

Philip Norton, Executive Managing Director and Global head of e-Commerce, said: “We’ve seen tremendous demand for electronic brokerage in Asia – in the past year we have more than quadrupled the number of products that are traded fully-electronically in the region. These promotions further strengthen our team as we continue to build new tools and capabilities - such as Volume Match and pre-trade analytics - within our BGC Trader platform to support our customers’ evolving trading requirements.”

Len Harvey, Executive Managing Director and General Manager, Asia Pacific, added: “Technology is a real differentiator for BGC. By continuing to expand the range of products available on our electronic platform to customers in the Asia Pacific region, we are aiming to help increase liquidity and trading efficiency.”

About BGC Partners, Inc.

BGC Partners is a leading global intermediary to the wholesale financial markets, specializing in the brokering of a broad range of financial products, including fixed income securities, interest rate swaps, foreign exchange, equities, equity derivatives, credit derivatives, commodities, futures, structured products and other instruments. BGC Partners also provides a full range of services, including trade execution, broker-dealer services, clearing, processing, information, and other back office services to a broad range of financial and non-financial institutions. BGC Partners’ integrated platform is designed to provide flexibility to customers with regard to price discovery, execution and processing of transactions, and enables them to use voice, hybrid, or, where available, fully electronic brokerage services in connection with transactions executed either OTC or through an exchange. Through its eSpeed and BGC Trader brands, BGC Partners uses its proprietary, built, and paid for technology to operate multiple buyer, multiple seller real-time electronic marketplaces for the world’s most liquid capital markets.

The Company’s pioneering suite of tools provides end-to-end transaction solutions for the purchase and sale of financial products over its global private network or via the Internet. BGC Partners’ neutral platform, reliable network, straight-through processing and superior products make it the trusted source for electronic trading for the world's largest financial firms. Through its BGCantor Market Data brand, the Company also offers globally distributed and innovative market data and analysis products for numerous financial instruments and markets. BGC Partners’ customers include many of the world’s largest banks, broker-dealers, investment banks, trading firms, hedge funds, governments and investment firms. BGC’s unique partnership structure and extensive employee ownership create a distinctive competitive advantage among its peers. Named after fixed income trading innovator B. Gerald Cantor, BGC Partners has offices in 20 cities, located in New York and London, as well as in Beijing, Chicago, Copenhagen, Hong Kong, Istanbul, Johannesburg, Mexico City, Moscow, Nyon, Paris, Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Sarasota, Seoul, Singapore, Sydney, Tokyo and Toronto. For more information, visit http://www.bgcpartners.com.

Discussion of Forward-Looking Statements by BGC Partners

Statements in this press release regarding BGC Partners’ business that are not historical facts are "forward-looking statements" that involve risks and uncertainties. For a discussion of additional risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements, see BGC Partners’ Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings, including, but not limited to, the risk factors set forth in our public filings which we incorporate by reference, including our Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2009, as filed with the SEC on March 16, 2010 and any updates to such risk factors contained in subsequent 10-Q filings.