Standard Chartered swoops on Morgan Stanley MD in major Hong Kong hire
Standard Chartered may be cutting costs in Asia but it’s also hiring rainmakers, even in the fourth quarter, traditionally a quiet time for senior recruitment.
The bank has just taken on 18-year Morgan Stanley veteran Francois Thomas as its global head of private side corporate sales, based in Hong Kong. Thomas worked primarily in foreign exchange sales at Morgan Stanley in Hong Kong and made MD there in 2011, a rank he now holds at Stan Chart, according to his online profile.
His move comes as Stan Chart looks to reduce its expenses (including managerial headcount) in Hong Kong and Singapore as part of a global cost-cutting drive this quarter. However, as we reported last month, revenue generators in sales roles – people like Thomas – are unlikely to be among those axed. Support functions and non-sales leadership jobs in capital markets and transaction banking are more vulnerable, say headhunters.
Still, Q4 isn’t a typical time for MDs to change jobs. Senior Hong Kong bankers more often move after Chinese New Year, when they’ve pocketed their bonuses. Although banks that recruit this quarter sometimes pay guaranteed bonuses (to help compensate for loss of bonus at the former employer), they also face less competition for talent.
Stan Chart’s Hong Kong office has a history of taking advantage of the quiet hiring period to bring in big names from the bulge bracket. As we noted this time last year, the bank beat the post-bonus recruitment rush by hiring Jonathan Cher, formerly an executive director at Goldman Sachs, as head of private side financing for Greater China and North Asia.
New Stan Chart recruit Thomas graduated from EDHEC Business School in Paris and then worked for Banque Indosuez between 1991 and 1997. He joined Morgan Stanley in London in September 2000, following a stint of more than three years at Deutsche Bank in Paris. Thomas has been based in Hong Kong since 2008, according to his profile.
Stan Chart has suffered senior departures this quater in Hong Kong. As we reported last week, Andy Ho, a Stan Chart MD and head of sales and relationship management, has left to join Circle Property Development as its new chief executive officer.
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