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Barclays Capital strengthened its research and wealth divisions this week with new hires. Anand Ramachandran has joined Barclays Capital as head of telecommunications, internet and media sector research for Asia (ex-Japan), while Carole Cheung has joined Barclays Wealth as a senior resource covering ultra-wealthy clients.
Barclays has hired Ramachandran at the level of managing director, charged with establishing the telecoms, internet and media sector research team across the region. Ramachandran brings to his new job 14 years of experience covering the Asian media and telecoms sectors and will be based in Hong Kong. He reports to Stephen O’Sullivan, head of Asia ex-Japan equity research.
Ramachandran was last at Citi where he was most recently a managing director for telecommunications, media and technology global banking. Ramachandran moved from research to investment banking last year. Earlier he was deputy head of pan-Asian research and head of Asia entertainment, media and telecoms research at Citi. That job is now done by Ravi Sarathy at Citi.
Barclays Capital already has research analysts in place covering the banking, consumer, industrial, insurance, property and technology sectors. Specifically with respect to technology, Ramachandran’s beat will complement that of Kirk Yang who heads the technology hardware sector research and Andrew Liu who heads semiconductors and TFT, said a Barclays Capital spokesperson. The firm did not share regional headcount numbers so is unable to provide details of the size of the Asia research team, the spokesperson added.
“Anand’s arrival is another significant phase in the continued build out of our Asia-Pacific equity research platform,” said O’Sullivan in a written statement commenting on the hire. “This appointment adds significant value to our global client offering in the telecoms, internet and media space.”
And, as AsianInvestor earlier speculated, the global wealth management division of Barclays has hired Carole Cheung as senior client partner, also based in Hong Kong.
Cheung, who like Ramachandran is designated managing director, will focus on managing the relationships of ultra-high-net-worth clients in Asia, leveraging the capabilities of the investment banking division to provide client-focused solutions for the UHNW segment. Cheung reports to Pakorn Boonyakurkul, who joined Barclays Wealth as the head of North Asia earlier this year.
She has more than 27 years of private banking and investment banking experience, including senior roles at Citi and J.P. Morgan. She was last at HSBC, where she was an MD in relationship management with a focus on relationships in the so-called mega-wealth segment.
The hire follows the appointment of 12 senior director-level staff in the private banking business across Asia-Pacific in March.
