Brosnan the latest big name leaving UBS

Changes continue at Swiss bank, with Damien Brosnan's surprise resignation as co-head of ECM solutions in Asia - only seven months into the role.

Damien Brosnan, Asia co-head of ECM Solutions at UBS, is leaving the bank, multiple sources told FinanceAsia.

News of Brosnan's departure emerged on Wednesday, sources at the bank said, but he will remain in the role until the end of the year. Brosnan is understood to have resigned to pursue other options.

The departure comes as a shock, given Brosnan was named co-head of ECM for Asia only in May this year. He was sharing the role with Peihao Huang, in a move that brought closer together the bank's equity origination and syndication operations.

A UBS spokesman declined to comment on the departure, and there was no indication of who would replace him or what the effect would be on his former co-head, Huang.

But Brosnan’s departure follows a string of senior-level hires and adjustments at the Swiss bank, since Sam Kendall became head of corporate client solutions for Asia-Pacific in June.

John Lee, who resigned as vice-chairman of Asia investment banking at Bank of America on December 2, will join UBS in first quarter of 2017 in a similar role to the one he just left, a person at the Swiss bank confirmed to FinanceAsia today.

Pei Shen Chou, who was Deutsche Bank’s head of mergers and acquisitions for China, will join UBS as a managing director and co-head of Asia M&A based in Hong Kong.

The bank’s Asia ex-Japan head of credit market syndicate, Paul Au, was let go on November 21, according to sources familiar with the situation. His origination counterpart, Patrick Liu, co-head of Asia debt financing group, also departed on the same day.

At a more junior level, 20 members of its China and corporate finance group units were redeployed to other duties in early November.

The bank is under investigation by Hong Kong's securities watchdog over its role as sponsor of an undisclosed intial public offering - one of a number of banks in the regulator's crosshairs.

This story has been updated to remove incorrect information on the timing of Brosnan's departure from the bank.

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