These Chinese banks are cutting jobs in Hong Kong
Chinese investment banks are cutting jobs in their corporate finance teams in Hong Kong after capital markets activity has stalled, with some banks earning zero revenues from initial public offerings (IPO)
Three sources told eFinancialCareers that Haitong and Guotai Junan International have also made staff redundancies. This follows reports that at least five Hong Kong-based bankers have left CMB International Capital Corp in recent weeks.
One source said that Haitong has made ‘several rounds’ of redundancies across all departments, while Guotai Junan International is understood to have made a handful of cuts in its fixed income and investment banking departments in Hong Kong, according to two sources.
The sources said Guotai has got rid of three equity capital markets bankers who were so-called IPO principals – staff licensed to work on flotations. The bank also laid off two sales staff in its fixed income department. Meanwhile, another source said CICC is also said to have made cuts in Hong Kong.
One source familiar with the cuts said: “This is down to the market downturn for sure. Many ECM and DCM teams have very poor revenues this year. In some cases, they haven’t generated any revenue at all.”
Haitong was ranked fourth in the Hong Kong ECM bookrunner rankings during the first quarter of 2022, compared with seventh spot a year ago, according to Dealogic. China Merchant Securities was ranked seventh while China International Capital Corp was ranked 10th.
Haitong, Guotai and CICC did not respond to requests seeking comment.
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