By Selena Li and Summer Zhen

HONG KONG, June 13 (Reuters) - Virtu Financial Inc VIRT.O, one of the world's largest trading and market-making firms, is eyeing an entry into China, a top executive said, to tap into the rising and lucrative trading opportunities in the market.

Reuters reported in April that China is considering opening its $520 billion ETF market to Western market makers, potentially attracting firms such as Citadel Securities, Jane Street, and Amsterdam-based Optiver.

"China presents a long-term growth opportunity for Virtu due to its scale and increasing openness," Brett Fairclough, co-president and co-chief operating officer of Virtu told Reuters in an email statement.

A potential onshore Chinese presence would be a natural extension of Virtu's Asia operations and aligns with its disciplined global expansion approach, he added.

Meanwhile, the firm's Singapore hub "will continue to support any regional growth initiatives", including its growing presence in India and China, according to Fairclough, who was the firm's Asia Pacific managing director between 2014 and 2019.

Virtu's China plan comes as heightened Sino-U.S. trade tensions cloud the outlook for Wall Street firms' operations in the market, and sluggish economic growth has led some foreign firms to scale back.

Beijing, however, has vowed to allow foreign firms greater access to the onshore capital markets, and has managed to attract interest in some niche segments. Citadel Securities in January applied to set up a securities broker unit in China.

Two sources familiar with Virtu's plan to enter China said that the New York-based high-frequency trading firm is actively exploring setting up its team in mainland China and participating in securities market making.

Virtu has recently begun hiring in China, one source said, declining to be named as they were not authorized to speak to the media. The company's hiring numbers for its onshore China team are not known.

Fairclough did not comment on the Nasdaq-listed company's hiring plans in China.

Virtu, which handles around 25% of U.S. retail market orders, has offices in Singapore, Hong Kong and Sydney in the Asia Pacific, and provides liquidity across global equities, fixed income, currencies and cryptocurrencies.

(Reporting by Selena Li and Summer Zhen; Editing by Sumeet Chatterjee and Tasim Zahid)

((summer.zhen@thomsonreuters.com; 852-3462-7739;))