Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has added two senior economists to its team in Asia, as part of the bank’s latest effort to enhance its research product in the region.
Louis Kuijs joins RBS in Hong Kong as chief China economist, responsible for China macroeconomic coverage. In Singapore, Enrico Tanuwidjaja joins the bank as Southeast Asia economist, responsible for macroeconomic research coverage for the region.
“We are delighted to have two experienced and highly energetic analysts joining the team. Their arrivals bring a wealth of experience to our market leading research offering, and will bring innovative ideas for our clients,” said Sanjay Mathur, RBS’s head of economic research, Asia-Pacific ex-Japan.
Both Kuijs and Tanuwidjaja will be reporting to Mathur.
The move comes shortly after RBS closed down its cash equities business and let go of most of its research team, including Wendy Liu, the bank’s former head of China research and China strategist, who joined Nomura in May as head of the Japanese bank’s China equity research.
The Scottish bank also announced early this month that Sherry Liu, chairman and CEO of RBS China, had resigned from the post after just 16 months. Liu is leaving the bank to pursue “outside interests”, but will continue to act as an adviser to the bank’s international banking team.
Kuijs brings 18 years of experience in economic research, eight of which have been focused on China. He joined RBS from the Fung Global Institute, where he coordinated a research project on the evolving economic growth models of China and India. Prior to that, he held senior economist positions at MF Global in Hong Kong and the World Bank in Beijing, where he coordinated the bank’s macroeconomic work on China during 2004 to 2011.
Kuijs has published a wide variety of China research and started the World Bank’s China Quarterly Update during his tenure.
Tanuwidjaja joins RBS from Maybank, where he was a senior FX strategist covering Asian currencies and macroeconomics. He has also published various research papers in academic publications.
