Credit Suisse makes investment banking appointments

Credit Suisse has appointed the head of its China investment banking department, Liping Zhang, to an additional role as vice-chairman of the non-Japan Asia investment banking department, giving him added client coverage responsibilities in the region. He will continue to be based in Hong Kong and will retain his present role as China country manager responsible for integrated business opportunities across private banking, investment banking and asset management.

The Swiss bank has also named two co-chairmen of the China investment banking department and a chief representative of the Shanghai representative office as it continues to strengthen its presence in China and steps up senior client coverage, it said in a release.

The two new co-chairmen are Janice Hu, currently a managing director and vice-chairman of the investment banking department, and Jeremy Xiao, currently managing director and head of the investment banking department's Beijing office.

Paul Su, a managing director in the investment banking department will become chief representative of Credit Suisse's Shanghai representative office as well as head of the investment banking departmentÆs Shanghai office. He will also remain responsible for the coverage of Chinese industrials and mid-cap companies.

Hu, Xiao and Su will all report to Zhang, while Zhang will report to Paul Raphael, head of investment banking for Asia-Pacific.

ôWe are seeing increasing volume of intra-regional deal flow, which plays well to our strength of combining local expertise and global reach,ö says Raphael in the release. ôToday's appointments will position us further to capitalise on the opportunities.ö

Raphael also notes that the new responsibilities given to these four bankers will ensure that the bank leverages its strengths across all its products.

The new appointments come less than two months after Credit Suisse received regulatory approval to set up a joint venture in China together with its partner Founder Securities, becoming the first foreign investment bank to obtain such approval since 2006. The entity will be able to underwrite A-share issues and provide other investment banking services to clients in China's domestic market.

Liping Zhang has been with Credit Suisse since September 2004 and has 28 years of experience within the financial industry, corporate management and the government sector, having started his career at China's ministry of foreign trade and economic cooperation in the early 1980s. Among his many positions since then, he has been a director of investment banking and China chief representative at Merrill Lynch.

Janice Hu rejoined Credit Suisse in 2005 from Merrill Lynch where she was responsible for China investment banking coverage. Prior to that, she was a director in the investment banking division at Credit SuisseÆs predecessor Credit Suisse First Boston. According to the release, she has been responsible for the origination and execution of a wide range of landmark capital market transactions for Chinese issuers.

Jeremy Xiao joined in 2007 from law firm Herbert Smith in Beijing. He specialises in corporate and corporate finance work in Hong Kong and China and, according to Credit Suisse, is a leading practitioner of restructuring, M&A and IPO work for Chinese companies.

Paul Su has been with the Swiss bank since 2001, having returned to Asia in 2000 after starting his banking career with JPMorgan in New York. He too has originated and led the execution of a number of landmark transactions spanning capital markets, M&A and restructuring, the release says. His sector experience includes energy, capital goods, conglomerates, pharmaceuticals and real estate companies.