StanChart expands with new credit trading head

Standard Chartered has added another senior banker to its growing markets business with the appointment of Brent Eastburg as head of its global credit trading team.

Eastburg joins from Ravenscourt Capital Partners, an investment manager based in London, and will transfer to Singapore to take up the new role. He will report to Remy Klammers, global head of fixed-income trading.

Eastburg, who is a former Royal Bank of Scotland banker, is the latest in a string of senior appointments that Standard Chartered has made during the past few months, despite a global financial crisis that has forced most financial institutions into survival mode.

Just last week, the UK-headquartered bank hired former Lehman Brothers banker David Douglas, to head its global equity capital markets business.

"Standard Chartered's strong market position and balance sheet mean that we can continue to invest in growing our capabilities," said Sean Wallace, the bank's group head of corporate finance, in a written statement issued to announce Douglas's hire. "We have an ongoing focus on attracting and developing the people and capabilities our clients need to support them in capitalising on the tremendous opportunities that exist in our markets."

That hire came hot on the heels of Tee Choon Hong's appointment as head of capital markets for Northeast Asia. Earlier this year, Standard Chartered poached convertible bond specialist Ronnie Potel from Citi to head its equity-linked origination team; in January it hired 15-year Rabobank veteran Nelson Batubara as its new head of commodity trading and agribusiness in Indonesia; in October last year it brought on board Christian Wait from Lehman Brothers in New York as its new global head of capital markets; and a month before that it hired Vinod Aachi from Deutsche Bank to take on a newly created position as global head of structuring, and Vincent Van Pelt from Bear Stearns in London to become global head of equity derivatives and commodities.

This push for growth has transformed Standard Chartered and helped to make it one of the most attractive destinations for talented bankers in the region -- and even the world.