Several team heads and lead analysts have been appointed to drive and expand equity research coverage, along with a number of analysts and associates. On the cash equity sales side, the Bank has also hired a number of senior people in its regional and country teams.
"These appointments signal our ongoing efforts in building and strengthening our equities franchise in the region," said Peter Irvine, Head of Equities & Structured Retail, Asia Pacific. "These new hires bring a wealth of experience to the Bank and our clients will benefit from further market leading investment insight and outstanding execution capability across the region."
The new appointments include Aiden Bradley, who will be joining RBS in Singapore in September as Regional Head of Oil & Gas Research. Mr. Bradley joins from Goldman Sachs, Australia and has been rated the number one Oil & Gas analyst for the past five years in Australia including 2010. Mr. Bradley will take regional responsibility for an established team covering oil and gas and Chinese fertilizer companies.
Jenny Cosgrove joins as Head of Utilities and Alternative Energy Research - a new sector for RBS. Ms. Cosgrove, who will be based in Hong Kong, has worked in the broking industry in Australia and Hong Kong for 15 years. Her coverage has included utilities, infrastructure, clean technology and alternative energy with Macquarie Bank (Australia), Credit Suisse (Hong Kong) and Wilson HTM (Australia). She also ran the highly-rated Asian utility team at Credit Suisse for five years. Ms. Cosgrove will take a regional view of utility and alternative energy companies and will be building up a team in this area.
Larry Cho also joins as Head of Mid Cap Research based in Hong Kong - a new role based in Hong Kong. Mr. Cho joins from Yuanta where he held a similar role from September 2009. Before that, Mr. Cho worked for Goldman Sachs in Hong Kong, covering the Hong Kong and China consumer sectors.
Tommy Mok joins to cover China Telecommunications based in Hong Kong. Mr. Mok spent ten years at China Mobile, and most recently as a manager for investor relations.
Mr. Bradley, Ms. Cosgrove, Mr. Cho and Mr. Mok will all report to Peter Hilton, Head of Asian Equity Research based in Hong Kong. Commenting on the appointments, Mr. Hilton said: "Collectively these new joiners bring more then 40 years of experience to our equity research team across Asia. We are strengthening and widening our research offering across Asia, particularly in Hong Kong, India, Korea and Taiwan to continue to provide first-class advice on investment opportunities."
The Bank has also made several notable analyst hires across Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Korea and Taiwan covering financial, utilities, telecoms, media, technology and shipbuilding.
In equity sales, Laurent Gilbert joins the Bank as Global Head of Asian Cash Equity Sales, based in Hong Kong. Mr. Gilbert has a proven track record of building a strong distribution franchise. He comes from BNP Paribas, where he was most recently Head of Cash Equity Sales. Prior to BNP, he worked for Macquarie and Nomura in Asia, and with Merrill Lynch and Flemings in Europe.
In addition, Owen Wong joins as Head of Hong Kong & China Cash Equity Sales. Mr. Wong brings with him more then 16 years of industry experience along with strong academic and professional credentials. His background spans similar roles at major firms including Credit Suisse and Merrill Lynch. Franklin Yu also joins Mr. Wong's team from CCB International Securities Limited.
In Taiwan, Benjamin Shen joins RBS as Head of Taiwan Cash Equity Sales, and brings with him 14 years of industry experience, having previously held similar roles at Nomura, Fubon Securities, ABN AMRO, HSBC and CLSA. He has also been consistently ranked well in broker reviews and comes highly recommended by the buy-side.
Emily Tsai joins the Taiwan Cash Equity Sales team as a senior salesperson to help build the Bank's equity franchise in this market. Ms. Tsai brings over 14 years of equity sales experience in Taiwan, having most recently worked at Morgan Stanley for the past eight years.
In the UK, Lucy Bernays joins the Asian Cash Equity Sales desk in London, where she will focus on North East Asian markets such as Korea and Taiwan, with a particular emphasis on the technology sector. Prior to joining RBS, Ms. Bernays spent 10 years with New Star Asset Management.
In India, the Bank has also made a number of new additions to its equities research and sales team, as detailed in the India announcement today.
