BNP Paribas hires Gary Chan as head of Asia equity syndicate

Gary Chan has joined BNP Paribas as head of Asia equity syndicate based in Hong Kong, after leaving Chinese bank ICBC International in March, according to sources familiar with the matter.

Chan will start his new job this week, according to one of the people.

He will take over from Hugo Leung who was promoted to deputy CEO of BNP Paribas’ securities operations in Asia, as well as Greater China head of global equities and commodity derivatives in late December last year. According to an announcement at the time, Leung was to continue to manage the syndicate alongside his new roles.

Chan resigned in March as head of global capital markets at ICBC, the international investment-banking arm of Industrial and Commercial Bank of China. He had been in the job for less than two years.

Press reports at the time said Chan left ICBCI due to the working environment, corporate culture and politics, as well as difficulties getting deals done at Chinese banks.

According to sources, Chan was close to joining a Hong Kong family office after he left ICBC. However, that didn’t happen and instead he is now returning to investment banking after four months off.

Prior to ICBC, Chan worked at Macquarie for six years. He joined the Australian bank in 2005 as head of syndicate and later became head of Greater China ECM. Before moving to Hong Kong, he worked for ABN Amro Rothschild and BZW in Sydney for eight years.

A spokeswoman for BNP Paribas declined to comment.