Royal Bank of Scotland Financial Markets has launched a structured credit derivatives desk in Hong Kong for the non-Japan Asia region, according to Anthony Yuen, managing director and Asia treasurer in Hong Kong. "We intend to do a wide range of things," said Yuen. The firm recently hired former Société Générale veteran Tak Leung as Asia ex-Japan head of structured credit product sales. Leung said he will handle products such as credit-linked notes and synthetic collateralized debt obligations, declining further comment.
RBS is still in the "exploratory stages" for the group, as Leung has just come aboard to flesh out the strategy. However, Yuen said it is likely that the bank will add two-to-three structurers in Hong Kong before year-end. It is also possible the firm could bring in traders for the group.
Yuen said RBS has been eyeing a credit derivatives desk for some time but the bank has had its hands full with the acquisition of NatWest in 2000. "We've been somewhat busy handling integration issues," he added.
RBS began looking to establish a presence in the credit market in Asia earlier this year out of its Tokyo branch (DW, 5/26).
Leung had recently run his own technology business, but before that worked in the structured products group at SG Asia in Hong Kong. At RBS, Leung reports regionally to Robert Edgley, Asia-Pacific head of sales in Melbourne, and locally to Yuen.
