Wallace will be group head of corporate finance taking over from Vis Shankar. Shankar will now focus on his roles as group head of origination and client coverage and chairman of principal finance and private banking. Wallace joins Standard Chartered from Franklin TempletonÆs private equity arm, Darby Overseas Investments, where he was head of their Asian operations.
Wallace has been with Darby for less than a year. At Darby, he was responsible for fund-raising to support the firmÆs existing mezzanine activities in Asia and was also involved in expanding its private equity and infrastructure investing.
Wallace was with JPMorgan for almost nine years, starting in the investment banking department in New York then moving to Hong Kong in 2001 to become co-head of investment banking for Asia ex-Japan and then head of capital markets from 2005 until he left in February 2007. Before he joined JPMorgan he also worked at Merrill Lynch and Bear Stearns.
At Standard Chartered, Wallace will be a member of the wholesale banking management group and will report directly to Mike Rees, CEO, wholesale banking.
Some specialists comment that WallaceÆs move back to the sell-side could reflect how difficult things are becoming on the buy-side, especially with the problems firms are having raising leverage.
Charles Alexander has been appointed regional head of origination and client coverage, North East Asia, replacing Andrew Bester who will become CFO of the consumer banking business. Alexander, who was earlier head of Asia corporate finance at Lehman Brothers, will report directly to Shankar.
Alexander joined Lehman in 1998 in Europe and moved with the firm to Hong Kong in October 2004 to spearhead corporate finance and M&A origination efforts. He has been an investment banker since 1987 when he joined JPMorgan after a five-year stint at McKinsey. Alexander was initially in Europe then in 1993 moved to India as deputy managing director of JPMorganÆs India joint venture, ICICI Securities (which was subsequently dissolved).
Lehman has been adding firepower to its corporate finance efforts. In April 2007 it flew in Glenn Schiffman from New York as head of investment banking for Asia ex-Japan. Schiffman is an old Lehman hand, with the firm since 1991. In September 2007 Schiffman brought on board veteran Credit Suisse banker Colin Banfield to head M&A for Asia-ex Japan.
The new team has catapulted Lehman from a firm which had no mention in M&A league tables in Asia in 2007 to one which û on the back of specifically some China outbound deals including Chinalco û is in a leading position for the first few weeks of 2008. Of course, it is early days yet for league table rankings, but LehmanÆs achievement is still notable.
Rahul Goswamy, who is currently the global head of corporate advisory at Standard Chartered, will become the global head of the strategic client coverage group, a newly created position which will oversee key client relationships. Goswamy will also report directly to Vis Shankar.
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