Abax CapitalÆs biz development head becomes a prime broker

Benjamin Happ has left hedge fund Abax Capital in Hong Kong to join Credit Suisse as a prime broker at the director level. He has got the job of head of capital services, or, in other words, capital introductions for hedge funds.

He was head of business development for Abax Capital since it launched in 2007 (and its prime brokers back then were Merrill Lynch and Goldman Sachs). Before then he had been a prime broker in a previous incarnation for Morgan Stanley in New York.

In Hong Kong he will report regionally to Kevin Meehan, head of prime services coverage for Asia Pacific, and functionally to Edgar Senior, global head of capital services for the bank. Happ's position is a newly created one.

Credit Suisse recently appointed a new Generalissimo of prime broking in Asia, namely ex-military man Matt Pecot. So this latest hire may be interpreted as a further Swiss build-up to challenge the prime broking duopoly of Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley.