Credit Suisse strengthens and expands its China Equity Research capabilities with 11 new equity research analysts

HONG KONG, 23-Nov-2017 — /EuropaWire/ — Credit Suisse today announces a series of new appointments to strengthen and expand its China Equity Research capabilities, thereby further enhancing its market leading franchise in the region.

A total of 11 equity research analysts have joined Credit Suisse’s Asia Pacific Research team in recent months, bringing in extensive sector expertise and substantially strengthening Credit Suisse’s China Equity Research platform.

Commenting on the new hires, Neil Hosie, Head of Equities, Asia Pacific, said: “China is a critical part of our growth strategy in Asia Pacific. With the Chinese government’s decision to further liberalize investment into its financial institutions, we are very positive on the long-term prospects for China’s stock market. Credit Suisse has the leading equities platform in Greater China, and these new hires underscore our continued commitment to provide best-in-class advisory and execution to our clients and to act as a bridge for international capital to flow into China’s domestic markets, as well as to help Chinese entrepreneurs and corporates access international capital.”

These new hires will significantly expand Credit Suisse’s existing coverage capabilities, providing deeper and broader coverage of key sectors for the benefit of our clients. “These new appointments reflect our continued efforts to grow and diversify our talent pool as well Credit Suisse’s ability to attract people with the best skills to meet our clients’ needs,” said Ernest Fong, Head of Research, Asia Pacific.

Credit Suisse has been consistently ranked among the top 3 country Research teams in Australia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan*, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan* and Thailand, in all the key industry surveys. Regionally, Credit Suisse also hold top 3 sector positions in Autos, Equity strategy, Gaming, Insurance, Power, Semiconductors and Telecoms Research coverage. In Institutional Investor’s latest All-China Research Survey, Credit Suisse secured the most #1-ranked sector teams among offshore firms, with top rankings in six sectors, notably Auto & Auto Parts, Conglomerates, Gaming, Lodging & Leisure, Insurance, Renewable Energy & Environmental Services and Technology.

The 11 research analysts, including five sector heads, who are new to Credit Suisse, are as follows:

Internet sector

• Thomas Chong joins Credit Suisse as Head of Internet for Non-Japan Asia, with a focus on major Chinese internet companies. With more than ten years of equity research experience, he is regarded as one of the best and most senior China internet analysts, with extensive knowledge of this dynamic sector. Mr. Chong was ranked #2 as an individual in the 2017 All-Asia Institutional Investor Survey for Internet Research. Prior to joining Credit Suisse, Mr. Chong covered the internet sector for a number of banks including Bank of China, Citigroup, Bank of America Merrill Lynch and RBS.
• Alex Xie brings to Credit Suisse a unique and in-depth understanding of the rapidly growing fintech and internet space. Prior to joining Credit Suisse, Mr. Xie worked with JD Finance in Beijing and was a core member of the product team in JD Baitiao.
• Greg Zhu joins Credit Suisse from CICC, covering online games, education and live streaming. Before that, Mr. Zhu served as a management consultant with Boston Consulting Group.

Consumer sector

• Charlie Chen joins Credit Suisse as Head of China Consumer Research, and will lead the China consumer discretionary and staples research team. Mr. Chen brings more than 17 years’ experience covering the consumer, global food and beverage industries as an analyst. He began his career in Equity Research in 2008 at Macquarie Bank, covering the small cap sector. He then moved to BNP Paribas, and most recently was with Deutsche Bank, covering the China consumer sector for the past seven years.

Healthcare sector

• Serena Shao joins as Head of China Healthcare Research from CLSA, where she was Head of China Healthcare Research. Serena was ranked a top 2 healthcare analyst by Asiamoney in 2016. She has also worked with Bank of America Merrill Lynch in Hong Kong as an Equity Analyst and with Vertex Pharmaceutical as a research scientist based in Boston in the US.
• Katherine Fu joins Credit Suisse from CLSA, where she was an analyst focusing on the China Healthcare sector. Previously, Ms. Fu worked at Jefferies.

Basic Materials sector

• Yang Luo joins Credit Suisse as Head of China Basic Materials Research, covering the basic materials sector including metals and mining. Mr. Luo joins Credit Suisse with ten years’ experience at UBS and Nomura, covering Chinese steel, coal and cement companies. He has also previously worked as a financial analyst at A.O. Winter Financial Services in Canada.
• Also joining the China Basic Materials team is Peter Li, who was most recently a member of Citibank’s China Basic Materials Equity Research team.

Property sector

• Jianping Chen joins Credit Suisse from Bank of America Merrill Lynch as the lead analyst for China Property Research. She has ten years of experience, eight of which were spent covering the China Property sector. Prior to this, she held roles at Huatai Financial, Barclays and Nomura. She has also worked at Ernst & Young in Shanghai as an auditor.

Non-bank financial sector

• Alice Li joins Credit Suisse from HSBC, where she was a research analyst since 2013, covering diversified financial services. In 2016, she was ranked #3 by Asiamoney in the regional diversified financial sector.

Technology sector

• Tianbo Yu joins Credit Suisse from Goldman Sachs, where he was an analyst in the Asia financials team for two years, covering Asia Insurance and China Fintech.

Credit Suisse Equity Research

Credit Suisse Equity Research provides comprehensive analysis of over 1,400 stocks in Asia Pacific including Japan, comprising over 400 Chinese listed stocks (including A shares, H shares and American Depository Receipts (ADRs) and dual listed shares), representing a total market capitalization of more than USD 9.6 trillion. These include nearly 150 domestic A-share listed companies that represent about 70% of the CSI-300 index constituents by market capitalization. In addition, Credit Suisse’s proprietary analytical platform HOLT LensTM has also added more than 380 A-share companies to its database over the past year, bringing the total to more than 1,640 A-share companies and 2,600 stocks across Hong Kong and China. These stocks represent an aggregate market capitalization of USD11.3 trillion. The HOLT database includes analysis of over 19,000 stocks across 71 countries globally.

Credit Suisse in China

Credit Suisse is the leading foreign broker to institutional investors in Greater China. It is one of the leading equities houses in Asia and has been consistently ranked as the top 3 brokerage house in Asia Pacific. The bank has a long-term commitment to Greater China, which today represents one of the bank’s most important growth markets globally. Credit Suisse has maintained banking ties with China for over 60 years and has had a presence in the country for more than 30 years.

In November 2016, Credit Suisse achieved a key milestone in expanding its onshore platform through the launch of its China A-share brokerage business via its joint venture, Credit Suisse Founder Securities. It is now among the first global banks to operate an onshore brokerage business in China. Credit Suisse also has a successful asset management joint venture with Industrial & Commercial Bank of China – ICBC Credit Suisse Asset Management – which has assets under management exceeding RMB 1 trillion, and is currently the second largest asset manager in China.

Credit Suisse AG

Credit Suisse AG is one of the world’s leading financial services providers and is part of the Credit Suisse group of companies (referred to here as ‘Credit Suisse’). As an integrated bank, Credit Suisse offers clients its combined expertise in the areas of private banking, investment banking and asset management. Credit Suisse provides advisory services, comprehensive solutions and innovative products to companies, institutional clients and high-net-worth private clients globally, as well as to retail clients in Switzerland. Credit Suisse is headquartered in Zurich and operates in over 50 countries worldwide. The group employs approximately 46’720 people. The registered shares (CSGN) of Credit Suisse’s parent company, Credit Suisse Group AG, are listed in Switzerland and, in the form of American Depositary Shares (CS), in New York. Further information about Credit Suisse can be found at www.credit-suisse.com.

SOURCE: CREDIT SUISSE GROUP AG

Yukmin Hui, Corporate Communications, Credit Suisse, Telephone +852 2101 6041