Ken Griffin's Market maker Citadel Securities has added more than 60 employees across Asia this year, underscoring the firm's continued investment in the region as it expands its trading capabilities and intensifies competition with major Wall Street banks, according to a report by Bloomberg.

Nearly half of the new hires were based in Hong Kong, Citadel Securities' largest office in Asia-Pacific, highlighting the city's importance to the firm's regional growth strategy.

Vikesh Kotecha, Citadel Securities' Asia-Pacific head, said the company will continue to focus on recruiting researchers, engineers and traders, drawing on Hong Kong's deep pool of financial and technology talent.

The hiring push also extended to other key markets, with the firm adding more than 10 employees in both Singapore and Australia during the year.

The recruitment drive forms part of a broader expansion across Asia by the trading giant founded by hedge fund billionaire Ken Griffin. Citadel Securities has been investing heavily in its regional franchise as it seeks to capture growing trading volumes and strengthen relationships with institutional investors.

A key area of focus has been the firm's "high-touch" business, including enabling clients in Asia to execute large US equity block trades. The move places Citadel Securities in more direct competition with investment banks that have traditionally dominated the lucrative block trading market.

The expansion reflects a wider trend among global trading firms and hedge fund-affiliated market makers to increase their presence in Asia, where growing capital markets activity and cross-border investment flows continue to create opportunities for execution and liquidity providers.

For Citadel Securities, the latest hiring wave signals confidence in the long-term growth prospects of Asian markets and reinforces its ambition to build a larger regional platform spanning trading, technology and quantitative research.