Jim Fallon joins Merrill Lynch prime broking

Well-known Hong Kong prime broker Jim Fallon has rejoined the industry after a brief period at fund of hedge funds Tremont. He has joined Merrill Lynch prime broking as a director in the Asia-Pacific financing sales team.

In his new role Fallon will focus on sales, but will play to his speciality of capital introductions, in which capacity he built a high reputation as one of the best in the business with Morgan Stanley, the firm that brought him over from New York in 2006. Over the course of the next year, he may start to build a team at Merrill Lynch.

He will report in Hong Kong to Dan McNicholas, Merrill's head of Asia-Pacific financing sales. McNicholas has taken over most of the on-the-ground duties of Eddie Guillemette, who has now relocated to Merrill Lynch in London, but still maintains some of his former Asia-Pacific responsibilities.

"Our prime broking business is probably healthier than some of our competitors because of our links to the professional trading community, for whom the volatility was a boon," says McNicholas. "With Jim's hire, we're especially looking to his connections with the long/short space, which he built during his Morgan Stanley days."