Oppenheimer Investments hires Asia chief

Full-service investment firm Oppenheimer & Co has named Steve Bernstein as senior managing director for Asia, as well as Asia chief executive of subsidiary Oppenheimer Investments. Based in Hong Kong, his remit will be to boost the broker/dealer's revenues across all product lines and build its franchise around the region. 

Bernstein has been covering Asia since 1983 and spent five years in Japan during his 23-year career at Citigroup. Before joining the US bank, he ran the international fixed-income sales division at Salomon Brothers. He moved to Tokyo in 1994 to run Asia fixed-income sales and trading and ultimately served as chief administrative officer of joint venture Nikko Salomon Smith Barney.

Returning to the US in 1999 as senior staff to the chairman and CEO of Salomon Smith Barney, Bernstein worked on planning and strategy for the corporate and investment bank. He helped integrate acquisitions such as Schroders and oversaw disaster planning and business continuity in the wake of the September 11 attacks.

In 2003, he was tapped to run global securities services for the corporate and investment bank. He retired from Citi in 2005 to focus on Zenbu Media, a company he started in 2000 and recently sold. 

Oppenheimer & Co and Oppenheimer Asset Management, both principal subsidiaries of Oppenheimer Holdings, together provide wealth-management, securities-brokerage and investment-banking services to high-net-worth individuals, families, corporate executives, local governments, businesses and institutions.

Oppenheimer recently received a licence from the Securities and Futures Commission in Hong Kong and employs 15 people across the Asian region. The firm's banking roots trace back to 1881. 

Bernstein has written and published two books, including a Japanese guide on conducting business in New York. He is on the board of the Japan Society.