Asia Bank strategy

A restructuring of the investment banking business that began three years ago is showing clear results in Asia Pacific, but there’s still room for growth

BNP Paribas has created a new global banking division in Asia Pacific, a move that brings the structure of its business in the region in line with its international operations, GlobalCapital Asia has learnt.

Deutsche Bank’s staff were dealt a crushing blow this week when it announced a full exit from the equities business and 18,000 job cuts globally. In Asia, the move has led to the equities capital markets unit all but disappearing. Jonathan Breen reports.

Deutsche Bank’s plan to exit its equities sales and trading businesses globally as part of a far-reaching overhaul of its operations has led to many departures in Asia.

HSBC recorded better profitability and higher revenues at the group level for the first nine months of 2018, with Asia continuing to play a key role. But the bank’s global markets business took a hit.

CMB International Capital Corp is slowly but steadily gaining ground in Asia’s bond market with a new — and fast growing — debt capital markets team in place. But what will it take for CMBI to be a real competitor to both international and other Chinese firms? Morgan Davis finds out.

Standard Chartered has created a new unit to house its private financial markets business, to bring more focus to its debt product structuring and distribution.

Credit Suisse named one of its most senior investment bankers in Asia Pacific as China CEO this week, putting him in charge of a strategy increasingly focused on wealth management and China. The move came as the resilience of the bank's regional and integrated model continues to be tested, writes John Loh.

Standard Chartered has outlined the next stage in its plans to cut costs and reorganise the bank in a recent memo to staff. The strategy puts relationship managers at the centre of the corporate banking team under Paul Skelton, who starts at the bank in December, but the changes are expected to lead to job cuts.