DeutscheBank equity head moves to HK

DeutscheBank equity head moves to HK

(HONG KONG) Deutsche Bank will move its global head of equity trading to Hong Kong, joining rivals including Citigroup in relocating executives to Asia as the region's capital markets grow and takeovers increase.

New York-based Noreddine Sebti will take over from Colin Fan as Asian head of equities this month, said Michael West, a spokesman for the bank. Mr Sebti will report to Loh Boon-Chye, head of global markets Asia, and maintain his role as worldwide equity trading head, reporting to Yassine Bouhara, the bank's head of equities.

Deutsche Bank, Citigroup and HSBC Holdings are among banks that are expanding in Asia even after the US mortgage market collapse eroded profits or, in Citigroup's case, caused record losses. Powered by China's economic boom, the region has mostly skirted the credit market seizure that led to US$181 billion of writedowns and loan losses at banks and securities firms.

'Global banks are moving qualified personnel to Asia to tap growth potential in the region,' said Manfred Jakob, a Frankfurt-based analyst at SEB AG. 'The stock market is booming, there are more IPOs and Hong Kong is an increasingly important financial hub.'

Mr Sebti has worked in both London and New York since joining Deutsche Bank in 1998. He started his career at Credit Suisse Group in 1989. Mr Fan is moving to London to become co-head of global credit trading.

China is home to the world's third-largest stock market, after the benchmark CSI 300 Index surged almost five-fold in the past three years and as companies raised a record US$67 billion in share sales in 2007, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

In Hong Hong, shares worth an average HK$87.4 billion traded daily last year, more than double the 2006 average of HK$33.7 billion. That outstripped the 5.6 per cent increase in the average value of securities traded on the US Standard & Poor's 500 Index.

The value of acquisitions involving companies based in the Asia-Pacific region rose to US$784.4 billion last year from US$465.1 billion in 2005, according to Bloomberg data.

Citigroup this month transferred Ted Kuh, global co-head of investment banking for the retail industry, to Hong Kong from London. Morgan Stanley's former chief economist Stephen Roach last year moved to the city from New York to become the firm's Asia chairman.

Deutsche Bank chief executive Josef Ackermann said on Feb 7 that the bank intends to become 'the leading international financial services provider in key Asian countries'.

'They've taken a view on what's coming forward in the next two to three years,' said Martin Marnick, head of equity trading at Helmsman Global Trading in Hong Kong. 'I believe investment banks are going to profit more from Asia than in Europe and the US, so it makes sense to have their major executives where profit is going to be extracted\. \-- Bloomberg