ANZ has hired Baoshu Huang from rival China Construction Bank International (CCBI) as its head of debt capital markets for North Asia, a newly created position, according to an internal memo seen by FinanceAsia on Monday.
The hiring of the Chinese banker – most recently head of debt capital markets for CCBI – underscores the Australian bank’s ambition to capture more overseas debt issuance from Chinese issuers, which accounts for more than 80% of regional bond issuance in US dollars, euros and yen.
"Baoshu has a proven track record of leading and helping build a capital markets origination business," according to the memo from Jimmy Choi and Paul White, co-heads of capital markets institutional at ANZ. "Baoshu will bring a wealth of knowledge to the origination platform across both bonds and derivatives with his previous experience in DCM and corporate sales roles."
In an interview with FinanceAsia last year, Choi said the bank aims to leverage its existing US dollar franchise across Asia, while emphasising the linkage between Australia and Asia.
According to Dealogic, ANZ is ranked 22nd in the Asia ex-Japan G3 league table so far this year, underwriting $3.583 billion of debt, slipping from 18th in the league table for the same period last year, when it underwrote $3.628 billion of deals.
The hiring of Huang comes after the departure of Andy Siow, who joined Citic CLSA last month as the head of fixed income syndicate for the Chinese brokerage firm.
Based in Hong Kong, Huang reports to Kang Jae Kim, who was recently appointed head of Asia debt capital markets following his previous role as head of Asia financial intuitions group DCM and head of Southeast Asia. Kim reports to Choi and White.
Huang started his investment banking career with Deutsche Bank from 2004 to 2007, where he was an associate focusing on Chinese corporate coverage and structured finance. From 2007 to 2010, the Tsinghua graduate worked for Goldman Sachs, specializing in private equity, according to his LinkedIn profile. He also worked for Morgan Stanley and Moeli & Company, mostly serving Chinese clients.
His experience in DCM appears to begin at Standard Chartered, where he was a director from April 2013 to January 2015, his online profile shows.
A Hong Kong-based spokeswoman for ANZ confirmed the hiring of Huang but declined to comment further. Huang could not immediately be reached for comment.
