ABN hiring spree - part 1

ABN AMRO has announced the hiring of two key performers to boost its regional equities business.

John Godfray has joined the Dutch bank as a senior Hong Kong conglomerates analyst. His experience is rather unique as during his career he has worked for two of the largest conglomerates that he will cover, Jardines and Hutchison. Most recently he was working for Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein as senior conglomerates analyst before the German-owned bank retreated from Asian equities coverage.

Godfray is also a one-time correspondent for FinanceAsia magazine, having written a seminal essay comparing Jardines and Hutch over the period of 1970-2000, in the July/August 2000 issue of the magazine.

Also joining ABN on the equities side is Welch Lin who has been appointed CEO of Taiwanese equities based in Taipei. Lin joins from Merrill Lynch Investment Managers where he ran a pan-Asian investment technology fund from Singapore.

Commenting on Lin's appointment, Mario Malt, ABN's head of Asian equities notes, "Welch will make a significant contribution to our Asian technology franchise and, with his strong connections in Taiwan, play a major role in driving our business forward." As well as running the Taiwanese equities business, he will also be writing research on foundry stocks around the region.

Godfray will join ABN later in February, while Welch will start work in March.