Hex Trust has announced the appointment of Colin Brooks as Chairman of Hex Trust’s Advisory Board. Initially appointed to the Advisory Board in July 2020, Colin continues to bring over 30 years of unparalleled experience, knowledge and connections building institutional custody and securities businesses, including serving as HSBC’s Head of Custody and Clearing for seven years, heading up a global business that covered over 50 markets across six continents.
The combined gravitas of Rajah Thiyagarajah as Hex Trust’s Chairman of the Board of Directors, and Colin Brooks as Chairman of the Advisory Board, further strengthens the credibility and importance of Hex Trust in the banking sector’s adoption of digital assets.
As ex-HSBC Global Head of Custody, Colin was primarily responsible for building HSBC’s Custody business from a small team to the biggest and most dominant sub-custodian in Asia. He was closely involved in all aspects of HSBC’s securities business evolution, from a custody business operating in six individual markets in Asia, to its current form as a global business within HSBC’s Global Banking and Markets division. Colin won the recognition “Custodian Banker of the Year” during The Asset Triple A Asset Servicing Awards 2011 for his contribution to the development of the custody business in Asia and was named a Global Custodian Industry Legend in 2019.
Hex Trust continues to scale its banking and financial institutional client base across Asia and Europe. Colin’s experience and guidance will be invaluable to its expansion and will drive Hex Trust towards providing the industry’s leading platform for bank-grade digital asset custody.
Colin was also appointed as a Senior Advisor to Standard Chartered Bank (SCB) to the securities business and then as Vice Chairman Securities Services based in Singapore, where his responsibilities included re-shaping the leadership team and driving forward a series of key change initiatives across multiple areas to effectively re-launch the SCB securities business.
“Having been involved for almost 12 months in the evolution of Hex Trust, I have been hugely impressed by the team and their achievements and am delighted to take on a broader role. I look forward to contributing to Hex Trust’s continued development as Asia’s leading digital custodian as digital assets move rapidly into the mainstream” — Colin Brooks, Chairman of Hex Trust’s Advisory Board
“Colin has been instrumental for the development of our institutional custody offering. We are now at an inflexion point where every major financial institution is in the process of defining or implementing its digital asset strategy. Colin’s contribution going forward will be critical to position Hex Trust as the Asia-based leader in the space.” — Alessio Quaglini, CEO & Cofounder of Hex Trust
Colin has over 35 years of experience in the securities industry, including 30 years in Asia. Colin started in the industry as a project manager with the London Stock Exchange in the mid-1980s, during and after the ‘Big Bang’ period. He then moved to Hong Kong in 1990 as part of a small team that established HSBC Securities Services, taking on several regional and global roles as the business expanded in scope and geographically. His last role being Global Head of Custody and Clearing from 2008 to 2015, heading up a global business that covered over 50 markets in 6 continents.
Colin moved to Standard Chartered Bank (SCB) in 2015, first as Senior Advisor to the securities business and then as Vice Chairman Securities Services based in Singapore, where his responsibilities included re-shaping the leadership team and driving forward a series of key change initiatives across multiple areas to effectively re-launch the SCB securities business. Colin retired from SCB in 2020 after the successful completion of the re-launch.
Colin has worked in a number of securities industry roles, including as a member of SWIFT’s Securities Council and their Asia Pacific Advisory Group, Board member of International Securities Services Association (ISSA) and has been a regular speaker at industry conferences and contributor to industry articles. Colin has a BA (Hons) in Linguistic Science from the University of Reading, UK and also attended Universität Tübingen in Germany.
