RBS hires Ted Tsao to head institutional equity derivatives sales

Royal Bank of Scotland has hired Ted Tsao to fill a new position as head of institutional equity derivatives sales. Tsao was previously the regional head of institutional marketing in Citi's equity derivatives team, but lost his job at the height of the crisis last year. He was replaced at Citi by Steven Choe, who was promoted from within the equity derivatives team.

RBS has concentrated on building its retail derivatives business in Asia during the past few years, but is now making a push into the institutional market. "This is a strategic hire as RBS continues to grow its market share in institutional equity derivatives products in the region," said Peter Irvine, head of Asia-Pacific equities at RBS. "We are committed to recruiting seasoned talent like Ted to help take our equities franchise in the region to the next level."

Tsao's seasoned talent includes spells in the equity derivatives teams at Merrill Lynch and Paribas Capital Markets in New York, before he joined Citi.

Tsao, who will be based in the Hong Kong office, will report both to Irvine and to Christopher Sloan, global head of institutional flow equity sales in London.

Tsao is the latest in a string of appointments within RBS's Asian equities business this year. Other new hires include Kevin Chang, head of equity derivatives strategy, who moved over from Barclays in the summer, and Lalita Raman, who, like Tsao, joined the institutional equity derivatives sales team.