Standard Chartered has beaten the post-bonus recruitment rush by hiring a senior banker from Goldman Sachs in Hong Kong.
Jonathan Cher, formerly an executive director at Goldman Sachs, moved to Stan Chart earlier this month as head of private side financing for Greater China and North Asia, according to his online profile.
University of Cambridge graduate Cher had been with Goldman his whole career. He joined the US firm in London in 2005 and moved to Hong Kong five years later.
Stan Chart has recently been rebuilding its front-office in Asia, two years after announcing sweeping job cuts to its managerial ranks.
In October, it recruited Singapore-based Mei Ling Lim from Nomura as head of credit sales for Asia Pacific, and it hired Anna Lui, ING’s Hong Kong head of debt capital markets. It’s also been adding to its markets team in London and New York.
While fourth-quarter hiring is typically expensive, involving banks compensating new recruits for lost bonuses, it can enable banks to steal a march on the their rivals.
“It’s actually an advantageous time for Stan Chart to try to take talent away from a higher-tier bank like Goldman,” says a Hong Kong headhunter. “Once it’s identified the people it wants, it faces less competition in Q4. If it waits until early next year, it might be up against a J.P. Morgan or a Citi, who are looking at the same candidates.”
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