ANZ has hired David Qu as a China rates strategist, a new role developed by the bank as it ramps up its regional research capabilities.
Qu joins ANZ from the People’s Bank of China in Beijing, where he was deputy division chief of the Financial Stability Bureau. He joined the Chinese central bank in 2007 and has contributed to several PBoC studies, including the 2013 China Financial Stability Report.
He will be based in Shanghai and report to ANZ's Singapore-based global head of rates research, Danny Suwanapruti, who joined the Australian bank in January from Standard Chartered.
The signing of Qu comes as Beijing steps up its efforts to manage an economic slowdown and liberalise financial markets. The PBoC last Saturday lowered the one-year lending rate by 25 basis points to 5.35% and cut the one-year deposit rate by 25bp to 2.50%, the second time in three months that it has cut benchmark interest rates.
Analysts at Credit Suisse expect two more Chinese rate cuts over the rest of 2015, as well as two additional snips in the PBoC's reserve requirement ratio.
The hiring of Qu also comes at a time when ANZs is pushing to expand its rates research coverage.
In addition to the hire of Danny Suwanapruti, the bank appointed Martin Whetton as senior rates strategist for Australia in October. Whetton joined ANZ from Nomura in Sydney, where he spent four years covering Australian and New Zealand interest rates.
“We are particularly pleased to be extending our interest rates expertise into the Chinese market, which will complement our existing strength in macro-economic analysis,” ANZ Chief Economist Warren Hogan said in a bank statement.
