Credit Suisse said yesterday that it has made nine new senior appointments in its fixed-income division as part of a continuing bid to expand its flow business and develop its sales and trading franchise in Asia-Pacific.
The region is set to enjoy record debt capital market volumes this year. The amount raised so far already matches the value of G3 currency-denominated issuance in 2007 and is more than double the amount raised during the whole of last year. At the same time, domestic markets, including China, are gradually becoming more liquid and accessible.
The appointments at Credit Suisse are for posts in Hong Kong, Singapore and London, are across several key functions, and -- for the most part -- are new positions rather than replacements. The new arrivals all have considerable experience at other investment banks, and, with the exception of two who have already started, they will all take up their new jobs in the next few months.
"These represent key senior hires who will position Credit Suisse well in capturing a greater proportion of the flow and client business within the region. We have also been recruiting at a more junior level, and will continue to add to our head count as we expand into new areas and functions," said a Credit Suisse spokesperson.
The most senior of the hires is Chunlei Wu, who replaces Larry Chi (rumoured to be moving to Morgan Stanley) as a Hong Kong-based managing director and head of flow rates sales for China. He comes from Deutsche Bank, and has previously worked for 12 years at the State Administration of Foreign Exchange of China, focusing on strategic investment management.
All the other appointments are for new positions. These include the highly regarded Richard Cohen, who will become director and head of credit trading for Asia-Pacific, based in Hong Kong. The Cambridge University-educated former boss of Asia and Japan credit and convertible trading at Morgan Stanley has more than 12 years experience in the region.
Former Citigroup director of fixed-income sales Vishal Sodha has been appointed director and head of credit sales for non-Japan Asia in Hong Kong, and ex-Deutsche Bank director John Camara has joined as a director in the FX spot trading team, based in Singapore. Both Sodha and Camara have already taken up their new roles.
Other sales hires include two UBS alumni: Theresa Wong as a director and head of fixed-income sales for Hong Kong; and Regina Tan as director and generalist country sales for Singapore. Hong Nam Yeoh will come onboard as a director covering financial institutions and corporates in Malaysia. Yeoh, who will be based in Singapore, has earlier worked for J.P. Morgan and Deutsche Bank. Hunter Jamieson is joining from Barclays Capital in Sydney as a Singapore-based director in the global FX sales team.
Also new is Bevan Harris, who will join the non-Japan Asia rates trading team as a director based in London where he will be the implant trader for AUD/NZD derivatives. He was previously at Royal Bank of Canada.
"Together, these appointments complement our existing sales, structuring and trading capabilities in key Asian markets and products [and] we have the potential to build a leading fixed-income franchise in Asia-Pacific, as clients increasingly value our ability to deliver customised solutions, and our strong capital position. We will continue to add resources to the teams, looking to expand both our bandwidth and depth of product expertise," Carsten Stoehr, Credit Suisse's head of fixed income in Asia-Pacific, said in a press statement.
However, it is Credit Suisse's policy not to comment on total headcount in its individual departments.
These recruitments in the fixed-income division follow several senior hires that Credit Suisse has made in its investment banking division in Asia-Pacific. In May, the bank hired Matt Pecot as its head of prime services and in July it added Benjamin Happ as head of capital services. In June, it also appointed Ken Pang and Min Park as co-heads of equity derivatives and convertibles, and Simon Yuan as co-head of financial institutions Greater China coverage in the investment banking department.
Last year Credit Suisse shed nearly 2,000 jobs worldwide and in December it announced plans to cut a further 5,300 positions.
