CLSA gets Crotty

Just a few weeks after leaving Deutsche Bank, Philip Crotty has found a new berth as head of investment banking at CLSA. He will report to CEO Rob Morrison and work closely with Tim Ferdinand and Richard Taylor.

According to Morrison, the addition of Crotty will see CLSA try to develop a more relationship-based approach to its investment banking activities. "We are very good on the ECM side of the business but we want to build on that and improve the relationship side," he says. "We have tended to be opportunistic and we are good at market timing and distribution. But now we want to build long term relationships."

Ferdinand, who previously held the title of head of investment banking, is now based more or less full time in Shanghai as deputy chairman of CLSA's China Euro Securities joint venture. Morrison says with the overall growth in business this year, "we needed more senior management".

Crotty was originally a debt markets banker, heading up Deutsche Bank's project finance business in Asia in the mid-1990s. For the last four years, he had been the vice chairman of the Asia Pacific global corporate finance division at Deutsche in Hong Kong. In total he has worked with Deutsche for 15 years, raising over $50 billion for clients during his time at the bank.

"I am excited to be joining the leading broking and research firm in the Asia Pacific region" said Crotty. "CLSA's investment banking business model is tailored to, and focused on, clients in the region. Asia's robust economic expansion and the consequent rapid growth of the mid-cap sector across the region provides CLSA with a significant opportunity to expand its highly profitable investment banking practice in the near term." Crotty starts at CLSA next week.