CEO, Citadel Securities
Search every verified Peng Zhao interview, podcast appearance, and on-the-record quote — each transcript cross-checked by AI and human review to confirm speaker identity. Peng Zhao, CEO of Citadel Securities, has been a frequent participant in public discussions about market structure, technology, and talent. At the 2025 Global Financial Leaders' Investment Summit, he predicted that Hong Kong could surpass London as a leading global financial center, citing its talent, infrastructure, and strategic position. He also said that a potential surprise for 2026 could be the re-emergence of traditional checks and balances in the U.S. Congress, leading to increased oversight. In a separate interview, Zhao stated that regulation is holding back companies from going public, and that the negative side effects of being a public company are giving firms pause. He noted that Citadel Securities is not currently considering an IPO. Zhao has also spoken extensively about the firm's approach to talent and technology. He described the firm's culture as one of meritocracy, where the best ideas win, and emphasized that the most valuable resource is talent, not GPUs. He said that the firm uses more than 100 petabytes of data to make decisions and has been practicing the art of making sense of data and making automated decisions for years. Zhao added that the firm is focused on staying on the cutting edge of AI, applying it to areas where the firm has conviction, and that every improvement made is worth a lot because it can be put into production within days. He also stated that the firm is growing at a record pace, driven by both core businesses and newer ventures like credit market making.
“In the world of investment, we must build flexibility and resilience into our organizations because the big picture issues and regulatory changes are unpredictable. Building strength to face an uncertain world is essential.”
“Hong Kong remains a talent hub with unparalleled density of high IQ and high EQ professionals across technology, finance, and management, making it an ideal place for financial services and investment firms.”
“Despite the challenges of recent years, Hong Kong's fundamental advantages—talent, quality of life, rule of law—remain strong, and the city is poised to continue leading as a global financial center.”
“Our approach to AI in trading relies on meticulous, data-driven processes, organizing data and workflows to embed AI tools effectively, which has helped us outperform Wall Street giants.”
“The most important data set we access daily is talent data—trusting that our team is working on the right things is crucial for our success.”
“The line between crazy and genius in investing can be very fine, as shown by the remarkable recovery of Chinese online brokers during market rebounds, proving that bold bets can pay off.”
“Looking ahead to 2026, I believe Hong Kong will surpass London as a leading global financial center, driven by its talent, infrastructure, and strategic position.”
“A potential surprise for 2026 is that despite political tensions, the US Congress might reassert its checks and balances, leading to increased oversight and possible policy shifts.”
“The China market has shown resilience over the past two years, and I expect some investors who previously avoided it will re-enter, driven by performance and short-term memory.”
“In the next few years, I see a continued broadening of leadership from AI to other sectors and from the US to more diverse markets like China, which will shape the global financial landscape.”
“Citadel Securities is built on a singular vision that technology, predictive analytics and automation is the future of making markets and trading in capital markets. And we've been practicing that for the last 23 years.”
“Most of what ChatGPT has been trained on is the open internet. If we didn't have the open internet, we would not have something that's capable of going out and searching a bunch of things and coming back with a summary.”
“The transformation of capital markets over the last 20 years has been powered by machine learning, with more than 50% of stock trading volume in the US being machine-to-machine interaction.”
“AI in the literal sense—forget about machine learning models—has the potential to be the most disruptive wave of technology, especially in financial markets.”
“The most common and dominant topic in client conversations over the last year has been AI, and Citadel Securities has been actively sharing expertise and building relationships around this technology.”
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It starts with bringing in the best talent that wants to work with other best talent.” In remarks to the Citadel Securities summer ...
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Citadel Securities LLC Chief Executive Officer Peng Zhao says regulation is holding back companies from going public. He spoke to Bloomberg's Sonali Basak at the Citadel Securities Global Macro Conference in New York on Wednesday. -------- More on Bloomberg Television and Markets Like this video? Subscribe and turn on notifications so you don't miss any videos from Bloomberg Markets & Finance: https://tinyurl.com/ysu5b8a9 Visit http://www.bloomberg.com for business news & analysis, up-to-the-minute market data, features, profiles and more. Connect with Bloomberg Television on: X:…
“It starts with bringing in the best talent that wants to work with other best talent.” In remarks to the Citadel Securities summer interns, CEO Peng Zhao discusses our culture of meritocracy and opportunities to make an impact with Chief People Officer Alexander DiLeonardo. Citadel Securities is a leading quantitative trading firm. We deploy powerful predictive models and develop leading technology to execute trades at scale and solve some of the most important market challenges of our time. As a result, investors can reliably access the markets, whether they’re retail investors saving for…
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