NYSE Head of International Markets Cassandra Seier hops on a quick but jam packed conversation with On Call host Paulo on Singapore and Southeast Asia public market opportunities going global, the ways NYSE is diversifying capital access for issuers and investors, globalization of venture exits, and more.

This On Call with Insignia episode is part of a series featuring speakers from the NOVA 2025: SG60 Edition event co-hosted by Smobler, the New York Stock Exchange, Gemini, Nifty Gateway Studio, and Skadden.

Timestamps

(00:38) Singapore and Southeast Asia Public Market Opportunities Going Global;

(02:32) Diversifying Capital Access for Issuers and Investors;

(03:48) Globalization of Venture Exits;

(05:41) Enriching the Public Markets Playbook;

(07:35) Public Markets as Innovation Bellwether;

(08:25) Why you should engage with exchanges early;

(13:00) Blind Leadership Questions;

About Cassandra Seier

Cassandra Seier is the Head of International Capital Markets for NYSE Group, a part of Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (NYSE: ICE).

Cassandra is responsible for attracting new listings from companies around the world, including Asia, Canada, EMEA and Latin America. She advises private companies, private equity and venture capital firms, investment bankers and others on the IPO landscape, NYSE initiatives and listing venue selection.

Prior to joining the NYSE, Cassandra spent more than 24 years at Goldman Sachs, where she most recently served as a Managing Director focusing on futures and OTC clearing. During her time at Goldman, Seier worked in the bank’s offices in Singapore, New York and London.

Cassandra earned a BA in Finance with a minor in Economics from the University of Oregon. She has been a CFA charterholder since 2004. Seier is President and CEO of Women in Financial Markets (WIFM), a 501c3 nonprofit organization whose mission is to connect, elevate, and advance female leaders in the financial industry.

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Directed by Paulo Joquiño

Produced by Paulo Joquiño

The content of this podcast is for informational purposes only, should not be taken as legal, tax, or business advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security, and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Insignia Ventures⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ fund. Any and all opinions shared in this episode are solely personal thoughts and reflections of the guest and the host.

Transcript

Singapore’s 60th Anniversary and Southeast Asia’s Growth Opportunities

Paulo: Thank you so much for coming on and doing this interview. I think it’s great to finally meet after all those conversations. And great to be doing a project with NYSE on Southeast Asia companies Going Global.

Hopefully we get to tell more stories of other entrepreneurs across the globe who are scaling their companies. But we’re here for Nova SG60 edition, and Singapore is celebrating 60 years. We’re seeing more companies from the region go global as well and raise from the public markets. How do you see this evolution of the role of Singapore and Southeast Asia when it comes to the capital markets?

Cassandra: It’s really exciting to see Southeast Asian companies coming to the main stage. And as you notice, Paulo, I was born and raised in Singapore, so Singapore particularly feels very personal to me. To see Singapore as a nation being 60 this year and also being a part of that amplification of SG60 for NYSE was truly exciting. In my position, my team and I help take companies public from all around the world. Our focus on Southeast Asia is to really help companies be ready and help them scale up, help them tell their equity story to global investors.

Diversifying Capital Access for Issuers and Investors

Cassandra: And that journey has been so satisfying. Our team is on the ground based in Singapore as well, and it’s a team of 60 people with our parent company, Intercontinental Exchange, and NYSE also has a local presence. What we have noticed working closely with companies in Southeast Asia is that these companies are truly interesting, very differentiating business models and really great discipline around growth and making sure that companies are performing at their best. 

So what we do is we help tell that story by lending our global stage. Truly satisfying to be a part of the Southeast Asia growth and help them one day come to tap the US market, the deepest liquidity in the world. So very exciting to have that vantage point.

Paulo: You talked about how you’re able to help a lot of these companies tell their equity story better, potentially tell that story in the US. Conversely, how do you see the value of international companies coming to the US, especially the public markets and Wall Street? 

Cassandra: Absolutely. That is so important. So on our platform, we have over 2,400 issuers from all around the world. Of the 2,400, more than 500 are from outside the United States, and more than 500 of these companies come with a different diversification play. And it is truly important for US investors to have that breadth and depth of investment opportunity. So we think it is truly important to continue to keep that platform global to make sure that investors have an option and democratize public access for all types of companies from all around the world, from all sectors.

Globalization of Capital Markets and Early Engagement

Paulo: It makes that liquidity even more productive. And that points to a larger trend that we’re seeing of capital markets, even from early stage venture capital, becoming a lot more democratized or globalized, and then now moving on to capital markets as well. A lot more venture-backed companies outside of the US are listing in the US. For example, I think 2017, Sea Group was a great example of that, listing on NYSE. So how do you see that trend evolving and what role do you see NYSE playing as this trend progresses? I’m sure we’ll have more such companies in the future.

Cassandra: Absolutely. I think this is a really great way to just look at how companies are starting to scale up. As they start to become much more cross-border as they expand globally, we are working with them to make sure that by the time they do come to the public market, they are ready. So it’s not last minute planning. We’ve been engaging with companies for years before their IPO movement. 

For example, this year we welcomed Klarna, which is a Stockholm-based FinTech company. And it was 20 years old by the time it came to IPO. And we had engaged with them for many years as well before the IPO. So I would see the same playbook with our Southeast Asia portfolio companies where we want to work with them, help them really harvest their full potential when they’re ready to IPO. And that includes early engagement with investors, that includes helping them make sure that when they go out for their non-deal roadshow, they are hitting all the points. 

And so I think this journey is super important for us to continue to help them. It’s not a short term strategy. This is a long—it’s not an overnight strategic move, which is why we have people on the ground. I’m based in New York, but it is important. In order to run a global business, you need to have boots on the ground and companies need to know who to go to. So it’s very important for us to have a local presence all around the world.

Understanding Southeast Asia’s Diversity

Paulo: You mentioned earlier about taking this playbook and I guess sharing it with companies outside of the US, like with Klarna, for example, them being able to leverage that playbook. Conversely, is there anything that maybe Southeast Asia companies are adding into the playbook that you learned from this region?

Cassandra: It’s so interesting because people think about Southeast Asia as one. I think of Southeast Asia as many different countries, different languages, and different cultural differences. Having that appreciation is super important. Same thing with the investors. When they look at Southeast Asia, they should not bucket it as one. Vietnam is very different from Singapore and very different from the Philippines. 

So just understanding how Asia as a whole really adds to the value of their portfolio is important for the investor. And I love the fact that investors can actually buy an equity stock and yet have exposure to the underlying companies and countries that they operate in. So instead of buying a bond that is issued by a company that is in a country that is difficult to access, you can just buy a US equity that has that exposure. And that’s a very interesting concept.

Paulo: It’s a lot more direct access, especially for investors that are perhaps exploring new markets. It’s a good entry point.

Cassandra: For the issuer, for the company, they now have a US dollar acquisition currency. So when you are listed in the US, your stock is traded in US dollars. So even if you are operating in a country that is not US dollar-based, you now have a US dollar currency to be able to potentially grow through M&A activities.

Public Markets as Innovation Signposts

Paulo: And shifting gears a little bit, talking about how the public markets are often a bellwether signpost of innovation and new technologies. Where do you see this signpost pointing towards based on what you’ve seen, companies listing in NYSE recently?

Cassandra: I see the signpost continue to be helpful. It is where, if you are traded publicly, it allows for the most public transparency and the gold—the highest standard of companies that are listed anywhere. The US continues to be that gold standard for a lot of companies. So it is generally also where innovation is at its optimal, when you have investors that you have to be accountable for. You tend to push the envelope and make sure that you are always leveraging the latest technology to continue to scale the company up.

Advice for CEOs Considering Going Public

Paulo: And finally, any message for CEOs out there who are thinking about public markets? What advice would you have for them?

Cassandra: I would say you really need to start your process early. We start to engage with companies two to three years before IPO at a minimum. Don’t leave the exchange selection till the end because you might be leaving value on the table. And that means engaging us early, leveraging some of our amazing tools and services that are available to pre-list the company. And these services really help tell that story as we talked about, as well as give you access. So one thing, Paulo, we’re doing an event at the New York Stock Exchange on October 23rd. It is called NYSE International Day, the second annual.

NYSE International Day Event

Cassandra: But what is so important to me personally and my team is we want to bring companies from outside the United States to come into the building and see for themselves firsthand the opportunities that are available when like-minded CEOs and investors come together. And that is an amazing convening of sophisticated investors alongside great, smart companies’ C-Suite. So that is a wonderful opportunity for companies to come and see what NYSE can do for them years before they… It’s really part of that engagement, that long-term engagement.

The community of companies that are listed and the community of companies that are going to be listed—when you put them together, they will find a way to organically grow their relationship, their businesses. Things don’t happen overnight. Strategic corporations, strategic alliances are struck after years of developing a relationship.

Paulo: Super excited to have some of Insignia companies fly over to International Day. I think one of them is also doing a booth there to showcase some of their products. And excited to see the interviews with these founders on the trading floor. Some of them, I think for the first time, so I’m sure the founders are excited as well.

Cassandra: You’re like an adult in a candy store when you walk on the trading floor. CNBC in the middle and the podium. A lot of people have that on the bucket list to ring that bell and just be a part of that presence. You are walking into history. The New York Stock Exchange is 233 years young. We continue to always push the envelope on innovation. We’re always innovating, and our stocks trade differently.

When you come to the New York Stock Exchange, you come down to the trading floor, you’re still seeing traders alongside technology. We have the best trading system called Pillar, and on top of that, you have extra liquidity from some of these market-making companies. 

We have three major designated market-making companies. And you will see them when you come to the trading floor. They have a big presence on the trading floor. And when the market is volatile, and it happens very frequently—and volatility can just be a large block trade, it could be month-end rebalancing, it could be quarter-end rebalancing. Any of these activities are volatility events, and you will find that all our stocks trade better. Tighter spread, less volatility consistently.

Technology has played a role in helping that. Technology and human, the hybrid combined model, which is the most unique. No other exchange trades the way we do. So when you come, I would love to show you that.

It helps a lot of companies, especially during this volatility event—these types of companies will benefit tremendously from the accountability of the designated market makers, the liquidity they add, as well as the servicing element.

And when you’re a publicly traded company, your stock price is the most transparent way for any investor to look at you. How your stocks trade, whether it is smooth, is super important. So that is a really great value add that a lot of companies get from the New York Stock Exchange.

Quick Fire Questions: De-stressing

Paulo: How do you de-stress?

Cassandra: I de-stress by exercising.

Paulo: Any particular exercise?

Cassandra: I like to do boot camps. And I love a combination of high-intensity training as well as some cardio. So most of my workouts are pretty short, 30 minutes. And I try to do a lot of multiple body parts at one go just to make it very efficient, optimizing. And you would think that should be stressful rather than de-stress, but it’s a mental break. When you don’t have to think about anything and you’re just literally going into the motions. I love that.

Quick Fire Questions: Leadership Inspiration

Paulo: Leader more people should learn from.

Cassandra: So this is a difficult question because I think it’s pretty subjective. You gravitate to leaders that resonate with you personally. Personally I am—I would say something that might be controversial—I’m drawn to Elon Musk and some of the things and businesses that he has been able to create. 

What I love about his leadership is he tends to be very focused on what he’s trying to accomplish, and he devotes time to areas where he alone can make a difference. So if it is a simple, easy to solve problem, it’s not worth his time and somebody else can do it. That is pretty interesting because you know where your strengths are and you know that you are adding value for generations to come. So I find that to be really inspirational. I hope one day I’ll achieve that greatness.

Paulo: I call that the art of letting go, because sometimes founders face a lot of temptation to solve everything themselves. But the vision…

Cassandra: Having a vision. That is quite incredible for a leader, especially in companies that we come across. Many of them are global companies that have very complex issues to solve. And having a vision and holding true to that moral compass and that strategic vision, I think is really important.