Citi hires BofA's Tsang for China banking

Financial services firm Citigroup has hired Rodney Tsang, one of the Bank of America Merrill Lynch's top China investment bankers, to strengthen the bank's presence among the Chinese private sector firms, says a media report.     

"Citigroup has poached one of Bank of America Merrill Lynch's top China investment bankers to strengthen its links with the mainland's fast-growing private sector companies," a report by the 'Financial Times' said.

Tsang is to join Citi as co-head of China investment banking after spending nearly three years at Merrill Lynch, the report said attributing to an internal memo sent to staff on Thursday.     

According to the publication, his departure is a loss to Merrill's firepower in China and follows that of several other veteran staff who quit the US bank earlier this year following its takeover by Bank of America.     

Citi has strong links with China's state-run enterprises and has secured a number of mandates to advise on big IPOs, the report noted.     

However, Tsang would bring experience in advising China's private sector companies, which are experiencing huge growth and are in need of advice and capital to fund expansion.

Tsang is regarded as strong in real estate, industrials and consumer industries and at Merrill helped several private companies in the property and retail sectors list in Hong Kong or the US. Before Merrill, Tsang worked at Credit Suisse in Asia, the daily said.     

"This is a critically important hire to help grow our China franchise," the report said quoting Citi's head of global banking in Asia Farhan Faruqui.     

Citi in Asia has been adding firepower amid a strong pick up in regional deal flow. It recently hired Jason Johnson from Credit Suisse as head of natural resources for the region.     

Attributing to co-head of global corporate and investment banking Asia-Pacific Jayanti Bajpai, the report said the bank planned to roll out its revamped product range and build scale in key regional markets.