The Chinese broker’s DCM unit was previously headed by Kenneth Ho, who also oversees the company’s ECM unit.
While dual roles are not uncommon, Sean Huang, Haitong’s head of global capital markets, said that Tan’s appointment is important as it allows the company to provide its clients with more specialised services.
"We've always been involved with DCM, but it's only recently that we've started having a specific team and David's hire will add to that specialisation," Huang said. "If you want to bring companies offshore then you definitely need the capability to execute in both DCM and ECM."
Tan was previously with Haitong’s corporate finance team. He started in his new role in November and reports directly to Huang. Following the reshuffle, Ho remains head of ECM.
Haitong has made deep inroads with its DCM franchise this year, having worked on eight G3 deals worth $552m of apportioned value, more than double the $252m it clocked up in 2013, according to Dealogic.
"Our overall objective will always be to grow in all aspects, but it's also important to look at what's our advantage, where the market is developing towards and how we act on it to complement our business," said Huang.