Bank of China International, the investment banking arm of the Bank of China, has recently begun trading and marketing equity derivatives. "We've launched our Hong Kong platform," said Warren Kwan, head of equity derivatives in Hong Kong.
The firm has started trading equity derivatives and structuring plain vanilla products, such as equity and credit-linked notes referenced to Hong Kong underlyings, and Kwan expects it will start marketing CLNs structured on other Asian names in the coming weeks. BOC will also enter the Hong Kong warrant market within the next six months.
BOC International is considering putting marketers in Shanghai next year, but trading will still be out of Hong Kong. Kwan joined BOC International from Deutsche Bank, where he was a senior equity derivatives trader, earlier this year to establish an equity derivatives desk in Hong Kong (DW, 2/3).
