Nasdaq is planning to launch a WeChat account in China, to share news and educate local investors, in an effort that parallels the growing reach of its market data into the country.  

The new social media account, to be launched in 2017, will be the first among US equity exchanges, following in the footsteps of the Chinese and Hong Kong exchanges, which already use WeChat to connect with investors. 

"There is a huge appetite among Chinese investors to be educated about US market structure, market trends, and trading opportunities surrounding US listed companies," says Tomas Franczyk, managing director for Asia Pacific at Nasdaq Global Information Services (GIS).

While Nasdaq interacts with investors in the US through Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, in China "WeChat is king!" says Franczyk.  Nasdaq is planning to leverage the full breadth of the channel's capabilities, which includes live broadcasts.  

The rapid development of data-focused Fintech companies in China has created an opportunity for Nasdaq to promote its brand, while offering market data to investors eager to invest in the US market.  Expecting further growth, the company is expanding its team in the region, based in Hong Kong. China remains the main focus of the company's efforts in Asia.

"We work with Tencent or Sina, but we also see a lot of start-ups financed by venture capital funds or private equity," says Franczyk. "They are very good at creating innovative products and quite good at getting a lot of clients to use the services that they are building." Companies that have recently signed up to distribute Nasdaq data include: Tiger Brokers, Futu Securities, China Finance Online, WeBull and MegaHub. 

Chinese investors have access to "level 1" stock trading information: opening and closing prices, bid and ask, and last sale prices. This level of service "is a good product for Fintech companies, which have many millions of users, who download mobile applications and who want to follow the US equity markets," says Franczyk.