HONG KONG – International financial services group Credit Suisse announced the appointment of George Chow and Zeth Hung as co-heads of investment banking (IB) in Greater China.
Chow was previously head of fixed incomes sales for Greater China while Hung was vice chairman of IB and global markets solutions group for Greater China.
The two Credit Suisse veterans are expected to start in their newly created roles in June.
They will report to Vikram Malhotra, who is head of IB, Asia Pacific.
Chow has an additional reporting line to Brian Yoon, head of fixed income Asia Pacific, on any fixed income related products and businesses.
Chunlei Wu will take over Cho’s old role as head of fixed income salse for Greater China, Credit Suisse said.
Meanwhile, recent comments from Japanese PM Abe’s advisor Hamada regarding the divergence between spot USDJPY and PPP levels have resulted in an increasingly dispersed set of expectations for USDJPY, especially ahead of the BoJ’s 30 April meeting where the bank will update its economic outlook, notes Credit Suisse.
“Hamada’s comments do not materially impact our long-term bearish view on the JPY or on our house expectation for further BoJ easing by October. After all, merely stating the obvious is not new information for the market,” Credit Suisse writes.
“But the recent downdraft in JPY implied volatility, improvement in Japan’s balance of payments and lower Fed hiking expectations lead us to trim our USDJPY 3m forecast from 125 to 122. And after all, if the guru behind Abenomics is openly suggesting that USDJPY may have run far enough for now, the market may see that as a validation of the idea that upside is limited,” Credit Suisse analysts say.