Barclays promotes Wong to head Asia bond syndicate

Barclays has promoted Ken Wei Wong to be its head of bond syndicate for Asia ex-Japan, according to a source.

There had been talk that the firm was looking externally to fill the bond syndicate position after Kenneth Lee resigned from the post in May, but the bank has instead promoted from within. Lee left Barclays to set up a hedge fund dedicated to Asia bonds.

Meanwhile, Katherine Lau, who was previously an executive director at Goldman Sachs, will be joining Barclays as a director on the loans syndication desk. Lau, who is expected to come on board in July, will report to Jonathan MacDonald, head of loans syndicate for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and Asia Pacific. She replaces Amit Lahkwani, who left the bank some time back.

A month ago, Kiso Kentaro, previously Barclays head of global medium-term note syndicate, relocated from London to Tokyo to head fixed-income syndicate for Asia Pacific, a role that includes loans, bonds and MTNs. Wong reports to Kentaro.

According to a source, the bank is expected to hire on the syndicate side during the next six to nine months. Barclays has been trying to build its equities and M&A franchise, with somewhat mixed results, and there are suggestions that the bank may commit more resources to debt.

“Asia is a key region of the debt business and we are channelling resources,” says the source.