Citigroup has decided to capitalise on the promising growth Singapore’s hedge fund sector has shown by opening a prime brokerage department in the country.
The new Singapore department will handle sales and client servicing, and stock borrowing will be carried out by Citigroup’s office in Hong Kong.
Alexis Fosler has been appointed to run the prime brokerage sales. Previously, she worked in the offshore banking industry in the British Virgin Islands and worked in equity sales and research in Hong Kong for SBC, UBS and Credit Suisse.
“We’re setting up in response to the trend of people setting up hedge funds in Singapore, by actually being on the ground there, we will be better positioned to proactively provide services,” says Hannah Goodwin, managing director of Citigroup’s equities prime brokerage operation in Asia.
Last September, Citigroup set up a hedge-fund sales team in Singapore. Run by Charles Blake and Rai Kapoot, it has approximately 20 hedge funds in Singapore.