Merrill Lynch has hired Joonkee Hong, global head of emerging market derivatives at UBS in Stamford, Conn., as head of debt markets for Korea, based in Hong Kong.
Hong will be responsible for offshore Korean fixed income and equity derivative sales, filling a role that was vacated last year when H.H. Choi was promoted to head of global markets and investment banking in Seoul, according to a Merrill insider. Hong, who starts next month, could not be reached.
It could not immediately be determined why Hong left a position with global responsibilities at UBS for a role covering the Korean market.
"He's well-respected," said one market official, noting that Hong built up UBS' Asian fixed income derivatives business before leaving the region to replicate the platform in Latin America and emerging Europe (DW, 2/4/02).
At Merrill Hong will report to Antony Hung, head of Asia Pacific debt markets and Choi in Seoul. Hung did not respond to messages and Choi declined comment.
