Brian Yoon to head regional fixed income for Credit Suisse

Credit Suisse has appointed Brian Yoon as head of Asia-Pacific fixed income to replace Carsten Stoehr, who has decided to leave after more than a decade with the firm.

Yoon, who has been with Credit Suisse since 1998, will assume his new role starting from December 1, in addition to his responsibilities as head of emerging market trading in Asia-Pacific, according to an internal memo seen by FinanceAsia.

He will continue to be based in Hong Kong and will report functionally to Gael de Boissard and Tim O’Hara, co-heads of global securities, and regionally to Osama Abbasi, Asia-Pacific CEO. According to the memo, which was signed off by all three, Yoon will be “responsible for the fixed income franchise across the Asia-Pacific region, overseeing all sales, trading, structuring and research activities”.

Yoon will chair the bank’s Asia-Pacific fixed income management committee and will also join the global fixed income management committee and the Asia-Pacific management committee.

The memo also said that in his new role Yoon will “lead the continued execution of our regional fixed income strategy and partner closely with other divisional leadership in Asia-Pacific to maximise delivery of our integrated bank to clients”.

It is unclear whether Stoehr — who had been with Credit Suisse since 1994 — is headed to a rival firm or simply taking time out, but sources within the firm suggest it is the latter.

Stoehr’s departure comes at a time when Credit Suisse’s fixed income business is going through a restructuring. The bank recently reported weak third-quarter results, dragged down by its fixed income, currencies and commodities business.

As a result, the bank has taken action to scale back certain parts of its fixed income business that have struggled. Credit Suisse last week announced the closure of its Taipei Bank branch, which housed its fixed income business. In Hong Kong it is rumoured to have cut an estimated 30 to 40 bankers from its fixed income sales and trading division a few weeks back. Credit Suisse declined to comment on the cuts.

The bank is said to be focusing more on the high-yield sector — an area that it has traditionally been strong in. However, it is evidently not departing from the investment-grade business judging by its bookrunner role for recent investment-grade issuers such as Korea Finance Corp, Korea Development Bank and Export-Import Bank of Korea.