Merrill Lynch has bulked up derivative sales in Hong Kong with a wave of hires. Gary Hung, marketer at UBS, joins as a director in the strategic solutions group, and Edouard Hoepffner, v.p. and Wendy Cheung, associate, both marketers at Deutsche Bank, join as a director and associate, respectively, in the same group, according to firm officials. The trio report to Abhinav Gorawara, managing director in the strategic solutions group in Hong Kong. Gorawara did not return messages by press time.
The hires further expand the strategic solutions group, a cross-asset sales and structuring unit, which has grown from a handful of staff in the last year or so to over 30 in Asia, according to insiders. In addition to other hires for the sales team in recent weeks (DW, 2/28), the firm has also kicked off credit derivative, rates and fx trading in Hong Kong this year (DW, 3/10).
Separately, Samir Atassi, former head of the Merrill group in Hong Kong who spearheaded its Asian build up, has transferred to London, to take a senior role.
