HVB Asia, the Asian arm of Germany's HypoVereinsbank, is gearing up its newly minted Asia structuring operation to offer foreign exchange and equity-linked products. "This is a core area for us in Europe and the States and we wanted to bring this to Asia," said Nick Hamilton, managing director of securitization and credit trading in Singapore.
Stefan Masuhr, head of Asia structuring in Hong Kong, joined earlier this summer to establish a structured products desk in Hong Kong, collaborating with the securitization and trading desks in Singapore. Masuhr said that the bank is already up and running with credit-linked and interest rate notes. He added that additional hires are likely for the three-strong structuring team by the fourth quarter but declined to elaborate.
Hamilton said as the bank only established its Asian derivatives business two years ago, it took some time to gear up for an expansion into structured products. Masuhr joined from Westdeutsche Landesbank in Singapore where he had a similar role and now reports to Hamilton.
