BNP Paribas has promoted its London-based emerging market cash equities head to head of cash equities for Asia-Pacific.
Lee Cook, who has been at BNP Paribas since September 2010, will move to Hong Kong as part of the French bank’s efforts to build up its equity brokerage franchise in key Asian markets.
Cook, who has developed BNP Paribas’ cash equity capabilities in Turkey and South Africa since joining the firm, will continue his emerging markets role from Hong Kong in addition to his new responsibilities.
Prior to working for BNP Paribas, Cook ran the EMEA cash equity business at J.P. Morgan for around seven years.
“Lee is one of the most respected professionals in the sector,” said Pierre Rousseau, head of global equities and commodity derivatives, Asia Pacific. “He will realign our research and equity brokerage platform to reflect the evolving needs of our institutional investment clients across the Asia Pacific region, in Europe and the US.”
In Asia, BNP Paribas has recently refocused its research offering to place greater emphasis on companies with deeper liquidity and larger market capitalisation.
“Our objective is to better meet the needs of our clients, and in doing so, strengthen our position as a leading provider of institutional equity brokerage services in the Asia Pacific region,” added Rousseau.