Barclays Capital has hired Andrew Richards to head Asia-Pacific financial sponsor coverage. He joins from Morgan Stanley, where he worked in the European financial sponsors group in London.
“The appointment of Andrew will build on our significant activities in the financial sponsor field, further enhancing our ability to serve these important clients across the region,” said Richard Gallivan and Johan Leven, who co-head Asia-Pacific corporate finance for Barclays, in a written statement.
Richards comes on board as a managing director, a title he held at Morgan Stanley after winning promotion back in 2008. He brings to his new role 11 years of experience covering financial sponsors across Morgan Stanley’s London and Tokyo offices. He earlier worked at Schroders in London and Shanghai, covering a variety of consumer products clients.
Richards joins Barclays at an interesting time. Generally, the third and fourth quarters of the calendar year see less senior bankers jumping ship. Bonuses get paid in the first quarter of the calendar year, after which many bankers reckon they may as well pocket their bonus and move to a new shop. However, investment banking is going through a difficult time worldwide and many investment banks are thinking about the sustainability of their headcount. Barclays has also reduced people during the course of the year, though in general it is still building out the Asia franchise.
