Barclays hires Taiwan investment banking head

Barclays has hired IC Liu as head of investment banking for Taiwan, almost a year after Gary Kuo left to join Citi as vice-chairman of Asia global banking.

Based in Taipei, Liu will play a key role in building and maintaining client relationships in Taiwan. He is the third person to fill the role since last year, after YT Du left early in 2011 to become vice-chairman of Nan Shan Life Insurance.

Since 2009, Barclays has been trying to build a regional equities franchise almost from scratch and an M&A team out of a small base, first hiring Matthew Ginsburg as head of Asia investment banking, who in turn poached a number of former colleagues at Morgan Stanley, including Peter Ding, who was hired at the same time as Kuo and shared the title of co-head of investment banking for Greater China with him. Kuo, who was also chairman of investment banking for Taiwan, was based in Taipei.

Liu joins Barclays from EasyCard, a smartcard company, where he was chairman. He previously worked at J.P. Morgan in New York and Hong Kong, with experience in Shanghai during the last decade. He was also previously head of corporate banking at Cathay Financial in Taipei.

“IC not only brings with him strong corporate and government relationships, but also significant leadership and transaction experience, and his appointment further underscores our ongoing commitment to the franchise in Asia-Pacific,” said Ginsburg in a statement. “His cumulative experience around the region will significantly complement our Asian business.”

It has been a tough year for equities, but there have been a few convertible deals out of Taiwan recently, including for Cathay Financial, Zhen Ding and Pegatron. However, Barclays missed out on those deals, while Kuo has had more luck landing mandates since moving to Citi. It will be hoped that Liu can bring some of that business back to Barclays.

Ding added: “The appointment will continue the growth of Barclays’s successful businesses in Greater China where our focus on the client remains our most important attribute. With his experience, IC is well placed to assist our execution in the Greater China region, especially on cross-border transactions.”