Winston Tay has been appointed as the director and head of bond syndicate for Southeast Asia, while Xiao Xiao Sun joins Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) as director of debt capital markets (DCM) Asia, according to the UK-based bank.
Tay, who will be based in Singapore, will work on primary market dollar-denominated and local currency debt deals across the Asia region with a strong focus on Southeast Asia. He will report to Alan Roch, head of bond syndicate for Asia Pacific.
“Winston brings a wealth of experience to the team, and the recent hires in syndicate and DCM are a testament of our continuous ambition to providing best service to our clients,” said Roch to FinanceAsia. “DCM is a core business for us, and we certainly recognise the set of opportunities that Asia presents, both intra-regionally and in connection with serving our global client base.”
In 2013, RBS was ranked seven for Asia ex-Japan in the dollar corporate investment grade bonds. The bank remains committed to growing its business and serving its customers across the currency and product spectrum in what Roch believes will be a very strong bond year for Asia.
“We are starting to see more corporate hybrids, for example, as well as Basel III bank capital, which we have done two out of three deals in Asia,” added Roch.
Tay has worked in the Asian financial markets focusing on DCM origination and syndication for more than 13 years. Prior to his new appointment, Tay was director of debt syndicate at ANZ from 2010 until 2013, also based in Singapore.
He holds a Masters of finance from the National University of Ireland and a double Bachelors in law and commerce from Monash University.
Meanwhile, Sun, who will be based in Beijing, will be responsible for the origination, structuring and execution of bond and syndicated loan transactions, primarily for RBS’ China and Hong Kong clients. She will report directly to David Yim, managing director, DCM Asia in Hong Kong and locally to Paul Chin, Beijing branch manager and head of primary debt market, China.
“There’s increased connectivity between the UK and Asia and particularly with China, and we want to make sure that we are capturing this flow, in addition to seizing opportunities within China itself,” said Roch.
Sun has more than nine years of experience in DCM across a range of bond and loan transactions. She was previously director for DCM at UBS from mid-2011 to 2013, and an associate director of DCM for four years prior to her stint at UBS – both based in Hong Kong.
She also holds a Bachelor of science in finance and international business from the Leonard N. Stern School of Business, New York University.
These appointments come off the back of a very strong start to the year for Asian bond issuance. According to Dealogic data, Asia ex-Japan G3 bond has already reached $23.6 billion via 34 deals in 2014 as of January 27. This is up 30% year-on-year and the highest year-to-date level on record.
