Barclays Capital is boosting its credit derivatives operation in Asia with several hires as part of a major push into the asset class in the region. "In a matter of days the first phase of hiring will be complete," said Eric Slighton, head of Asia-Pacific credit derivatives in Hong Kong.
For the effort, David Ling, director and structurer at ABN AMRO in Singapore, and How-Chi Lee, director in the credit and insurance structuring group at CSFB in Hong Kong, have joined the firm, as structurers/traders in Hong Kong. "With structurers in place, we're well prepared to offer the full range of credit products and make use of Barclays' local markets presence," added Slighton. This is the firm's first foray into credit derivatives structuring in the regional markets.
A single-name credit derivatives trader will also join in the coming weeks, Slighton said, declining to elaborate. Additionally, Bill Xie, credit derivatives trader at Barclays in Singapore, will head to Hong Kong in the coming weeks to centralize its trading effort. Kuniomi Kimura, structurer in the equity derivatives group in Tokyo, has moved into the fixed income division in Japan, and is now handling credit structuring.
Slighton, a former Deutsche Bank and Merrill Lynch banker, joined earlier this year to spearhead the expansion (DW, 3/22).
