Merrill Lynch is building up its fixed income operation for Korea and has transferred H.H. Choi, Asia Pacific head of fixed income sales in Hong Kong, to Seoul to head debt. "Korea is one of our target markets in Asia-Pacific," said Choi, who is now the head of Korean debt markets with responsibilities for sales, trading and debt capital markets. He plans to bring in foreign exchange and fixed income traders, along with marketers for the effort early next year. Staff will likely be transferred from Hong Kong or Tokyo for the desk.
Merrill has been looking at establishing a presence in the increasing deregulated Korean fixed income market since early this year (DW, 2/24) along with other players, including Lehman Brothers and Barclays Capital.
