Standard Chartered adds to emerging companies research team

Standard Chartered has hired Zhang Su as an equity research analyst to cover emerging companies in China and Hong Kong, according to a release issued yesterday.

Su joins from Exane BNP Paribas in London, where he was an equity strategist focusing on China. He has worked with Standard Chartered once before, between January 2005 and August 2006, when he was a credit analyst based in Shanghai focusing on small and mid-sized companies.

His return to the UK-headquartered bank comes about six weeks after it brought on board Sumit Choudhary as head of emerging companies research in India, and in the release Standard Chartered said that the hire of Su rounds up its regional emerging companies team.

A spokesperson at the bank declined to comment on how many analysts are part of this team, but explained that emerging companies is a subset under the small/mid cap asset class and refers to companies that have “differentiated business models that enable them to generate high sustainable returns on capital and grow at an above average rate for a prolonged period”.

Su will be based in Hong Kong and will report to Jeremy Sutch, head of emerging companies research, and to Erwin Sanft, head of Hong Kong and China equity research.

Su has been with Exane BNP since December 2006. Aside from his 20 months with Standard Chartered, he also worked for Pricewaterhouse Coopers in Shanghai earlier in his career.

In a comment on the hire, Sutch noted that Standard Chartered continues to expand and deepen its equity research capability to meet increasing demands from clients. Less than a month ago it brought across Philip Tulk from Royal Bank of Scotland to cover conglomerates, hotels and gaming.