BNP Paribas adds to Asian securitization group

BNP Paribas has added to its Asian securitization group with the hire of Jie Dong to the position of associate director of structured credit origination. She joins the bank from Merrill Lynch's New York office and will report to Razi Amin (himself a former Merrill employee), head of structured credit origination.

The bank now has three people working to develop its fledgling Asian securitization franchise, with Mark Tisdell having joined - also as associate director - three months ago from Citibank/SSB's Sydney office.

Although Dong has spent most of the past 10 years originating ABS and MBS deals in New York, she is not completely new to the Asian markets as she spent much of last year doing advisory work in China. Her fluency in Mandarin may prove to be quite an asset, with many securitization bankers optimistic about Taiwan being a big source of activity in the next few years, now that it has ABS legislation in place, and hopeful about the long-term opportunities in China.