BSO is a connectivity provider for financial services and other businesses. JLN spoke with Matthew Lempriere, BSO’s head of UK and Asia Pacific, at FIA Expo 2022. 

We asked him what was new at BSO. He said the company is doing a lot with RF (radio frequency) services, which it provides in the form of its RF Express and RF Ultra products. They are using microwave and millimeter wave technology, he said.

Lempriere said BSO also has fiber routes to some newer exchanges, such as Mexico, and “we are doing a lot in Brazil, we’re doing a lot in Saudi Arabia and the Middle East, and particularly in crypto,” he said. 

The company is seeing a lot of interest in foreign exchange, in what used to be the triangle but is now the square of London, Tokyo, New York and Singapore, he said. “We’re seeing a lot more interest in Singapore for the global fiber routes.”

Some emerging markets BSO has recently brought onstream are Brazil and Saudi Arabia as well as Africa, and it is seeing a lot of interest from clients in accessing those routes, he added. 

The company is connecting to more regional exchanges, such as the Stock Exchange of Thailand and Bursa Malaysia. And it is the only international carrier approved to work in the GIFT City business district in Gujarat, India, Lempriere said.

We asked him what he is seeing in the crypto space. He said he is seeing tremendous growth, and that over the past two or three years people have been trading at multiple crypto exchanges globally. “Our existing client base, high frequency trading firms, is definitely getting into that market,” he added, “and crypto natives are as well.” 

Also, he said, two years ago the crypto market was much more retail-focused. Now a lot of institutions are moving in, “and that means the market structure has to change to a much more institutional focus.”   BSO has built low latency networks connecting that global community of multiple trading venues, which includes London, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Singapore, and the West and East Coasts of the U.S., he said, and a significant amount of its new client base is people trading those markets.