Asia credit sales head Justin Yang leaves UBS

Justin Yang, a managing director and head of Asia credit sales for UBS, left the bank on Friday. When contacted by FinanceAsia, Yang declined to comment on where he was headed next.

Tommy Leung, who is based in Singapore, and Gerry Ifill, who is based in Hong Kong, have since been appointed co-heads of Asia credit sales for UBS. They both report to Mark Jones, head of credit and rates distribution for Asia-Pacific.

In October, UBS said that it planned to cut 10,000 jobs and retreat from fixed-income markets. Sources within the firm have said that the bank is exiting long-dated swaps and exotic derivatives, but is continuing to support bonds in secondary markets and remains committed to its debt franchise in Asia.

However, several senior bankers have left without being replaced, suggesting that responsibilities are being spread over existing members of the team.

Guy Wylie, formerly head of debt capital markets for Asia left UBS in June last year and was not replaced. Similarly, Raj Malhotra, previously joint head of debt capital markets for Southeast Asia also left UBS last year and was not replaced by a new hire.

Broadly speaking, the brunt of the cuts within fixed income have been borne by the sales and trading side — as banks shrink their trading books to meet Basel III requirements and move to more of a brokerage model. However, there have also been cuts within debt capital markets, though to a lesser extent.

Late last year, Guillaume du Cheyron, a director of high yield at Citi, left the firm. According to several market sources, he was let go. In November, Charmain Soo, a managing director and head of credit sales for Hong Kong, was also let go from the bank. A Citi spokesman declined to comment.

Citi said in December last year that it would cut 11,000 jobs worldwide, representing about 4% of the bank’s total workforce. The announced cuts are expected to bring about $1.1 billion of annual savings in 2014.