SocGen hire enhances Asian trading from Europe

Société Générale Corporate and Investment Banking has hired Craig Harvey as sales trader for Asia. Harvey will be responsible for pan-Asian sales trading activity emanating from Europe.
By None

Société Générale Corporate and Investment Banking has hired Craig Harvey as sales trader for Asia. Harvey will be responsible for pan-Asian sales trading activity emanating from Europe.

The newly-created position at the France-based bank is designed to facilitate Asian trades coming from SocGen's European buy-side customers and to give clients a point of contact with Asian expertise in their own time-zone.

Harvey will be based in London and report to Mark Rice, SocGen's global head of sales trading, and Matthew Perry, co-head of execution services, Asia.

Harvey's responsibilities include discussing trading strategies with clients, transmitting orders to SocGen's Asian execution desk and providing post-trade reports the following day. His role will also include trade execution during the overlap between European and Asian trading hours.

Previously, overlap was handled by a global expert at SocGen who did not necessarily have Asia-specific expertise.

Harvey joins SocGen after five years at Japan-based broker Mizuho International, where he most recently led the firm's pan-Asian sales trading team. He has also worked at asset manager Robert Fleming before it was sold to Chase, and Deutsche Bank.

The French bank has made a number of hires to strengthen its Asian cash equity business. These include Gary Leong and Neil McCann as directors of the Hong Kong sales trading team, who join from Barclays Capital and Nomura respectively. John Takeoka, previously at Nomura, has also been hired as vice president in the bank's Japan sales trading team, while Kennie Atle Johansen has joined as a director in the principal trading and facilitation team in Hong Kong, having previously worked at Octis Asset Management.

SocGen also provides Asian research capabilities via its partnership with Ji ASIA, an independent pan-Asian research provider. Ji ASIA's analyst team is based in Tokyo and Hong Kong and has covered over 600 Asia stocks, with support from full-service research sales desks in London, New York, Tokyo and Hong Kong.

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