Turnover is on the rise at Hong Kong’s investment banks amid a soured market outlook with Credit Suisse being the latest to see exits, finews.asia has learned.
Credit Suisse has lost at least four investment bankers in Hong Kong, sources told finews.asia, adding to the industry’s mounting exits amid a weakened outlook. The departures are focused on various divisions including TMT (tech, media and telecoms), M&A and FIG (financial institutions group).
This follows the recent departure of ex-Credit Suisse co-head of equity capital markets (ECM) and head of equity syndicate for Asia Pacific Sunil Dhupelia who left to join J.P. Morgan as its Asia ex-Japan co-head of ECM, according to a «Bloomberg» report citing unnamed sources.
A spokesperson for the bank declined to comment.
Investment Banking Cuts
Credit Suisse joins an increasing number of investment banks that are shedding headcount in Hong Kong.
In May, HSBC saw the exits of Hossein Zaimi who joined Barclays as its APAC head of markets as well as former co-head of debt capital markets Sean McNelis who resigned and was succeeded by Daniel Kim, according to a report by «Global Capital». Citi’s APAC head of FIG Kelvin Goh reportedly resigned to join J.P. Morgan in Singapore in the same month while ex-UBS Asia head of ECM Hannah Malter left to join KKR in late April, according to a report by «Citywire».
Chinese investment banks Haitong International, Guotai Junan International and China Merchant Bank International have all also reportedly laid off workers across various divisions.
Although there are hopes for an improved second half – Hong Kong’s main board raised around HK$17 billion ($2.2 billion) from IPOs as of end-May, down 91 percent year-on-year – the city’s exchange is still expected to close the year significantly lower. A recent PwC estimate forecasts that Hong Kong will generate HK$331.7 billion from 99 deals in 2022, marking a 40 percent annual decrease.
