RBS Bulks Up Fixed Income

Royal Bank of Scotland has boosted its fixed income derivatives presence in the region with a number of hires in Hong Kong, coinciding with a restructuring of the desk. Jeffrey Chu, structurer at Bank of America, fills a new role as head of rate structuring for Asia; Raymond Ho, director in exotic derivatives trading at Mitsubishi UFJ Securities in London, joins as an interest rate exotics trader; Samson Wong, credit derivatives structurer at UBS in Hong Kong, takes a similar slot to Ho; and Michael Han, marketer at Credit Suisse First Boston in Hong Kong, joins as a senior marketer for Greater China sales.

RBS has made a push in fixed income in the region this year, with several senior hires, including Lee Knight, Asia-Pacific head of fixed income in Hong Kong, who came aboard from UBS to spear head the build up of the credit and rates businesses (DW, 3/18).

Additionally, the firm has been retooling the structuring desk. "We've reorganized structuring from an umbrella approach to separate product areas," said Peter Spee, head of options and exotics for Asia in Hong Kong, explaining that the rates and credit teams have been separated under new heads. Chu will run the rates side, while Steven Wong, head of credit structuring for Asia in Hong Kong, who recently joined from UBS (DW, 4/29), now runs the credit side. Chu and Ho now report to Spee while Samson Wong reports to Wong and Han reports to Marianna Ma, head of Greater China sales in Hong Kong.