Leung - a 20 year veteran who has worked at Dow Jones Telrate and Cicada - will join HKEx as SVP and co-head of the exchange's IT division in October alongside current CTO Bill Chow.

The new man will work with platform development on a market data system and securities trading platform, as well as central gateway development. Meanwhile, Chow will cover infrastructure and operations, derivatives trading, clearing, settlement, risk management and enterprise systems.

Current IT co-head Roger Lee will return to the listing division as head of operations early next year and another new appointment, Sylvia Hoosen, joins to lead human resources.

Charles Li, CEO, HKEx, says: "These changes will give us additional management strength as we proceed with our plans to upgrade our operations, key market systems and capabilities."

Although he has hired Leung, Li has told a conference in Hong Kong that the bourse is relaxed about its current "adequate" platform and in no rush to boost speed for high-frequency trading, according to local press reports.