E*Trade snatches senior CLSA sales trader

Louisa Liu has joined E*Trade as a sales and trader for the Asian markets. Liu joins from CSLA, where she has spent the last year focusing on Asian sales and trading opportunities for hedge fund and long only clients. Prior to that she spent three years as a sales trader with Macquarie in Hong Kong, before which she worked with Daiwa, as chief dealer for Asian markets.

Based in Hong Kong, Liu joins a team of 11 hedge fund-focused sales and traders at E*Trade. She reports to Helen Langan, E*Trade's dealing director for Asia. She fills a newly created position.

"Louisa's hire is pivotal in taking our Hong Kong and China business to the next level," says John Lord, E*Trade's Asia Pacific vice president. "We're very focused on our hedge fund clients, which are a rapidly growing part of our business. Bringing Louisa on board adds further expertise to this focus and will help us to capture more market share." Commenting on her move Liu says, "Joining E*Trade is a great opportunity for me, as the firm holds a very competitive position in the current environment where there is so much pressure on brokers to reduce rates."