Credit Suisse has appointed George Chow and Zeth Hung co-heads of Greater China investment banking. The roles are newly created and the appointment will take effect in June.
Both Chow and Hung will be tasked with broadening Credit Suisse’s Greater China client base and expanding its services beyond traditional investment banking products such as initial public offerings and bonds to structured products such as equity and credit derivatives.
Chow and Hung will report to Vikram Malhotra, head of investment banking Asia Pacific. Chow will have an additional reporting line to Brian Yoon, head of fixed income Asia Pacific, on any fixed income-related business.
Chow was previously head of fixed income sales, Greater China, and Hung was previously vice chairman of the investment banking and global markets solutions group for Greater China.
Credit Suisse promoted Chunlei Wu to take over Chow’s old role as head of fixed income sales for Greater China.
Liping Zhang and Neil Harvey remain co-chief executive officers for Greater China. Apart from providing senior client coverage, they have broader management and regulatory responsibilities.
Background
Chow joined Credit Suisse First Boston in April 2004 from UBS where he was a director in the debt capital markets team. Prior to that, Chow worked at Merrill Lynch for four years in the debt markets group.
Hung joined Credit Suisse in 1998 and before that, he worked in the corporate and project finance team of BZW Asia Limited, which was later acquired by Credit Suisse. Hung has worked in different roles within Credit Suisse including the corporate finance and M&A group, financial institutions group, and equity capital markets in Hong Kong. He served as the head of corporate finance in Hong Kong in 2007 and co-head of equity capital markets for non-Japan Asia until 2011.
Hung has executed a wide range of corporate finance and capital markets transactions across Asia including Industrial and Commercial Bank of China's $21 billion dual offering, China Construction Bank's $9.2 billion IPO, China Life's $3.5 billion dual listing, and Cnooc's $2 billion follow-on offering.
The Greater China region, which includes mainland China, Hong Kong, and Macau, has been a key market for investment banking revenues in Asia. As such, investment banks are focused on building up their China investment banking teams to capture deal flow.
In recent years, deal-making has also shifted from China's state-owned enterprises to the private sector, with the rise of private sector giants such as Xiaomi.
Credit Suisse last year appointed Steven Wang as head of consumer, retail and healthcare for Greater China, a newly created role within the bank.
