HONG KONG (Reuters) – As well as firing thousands of staff, investment banks in Asia are quietly culling clients, too.

The region’s initial public offering boom has slowed – the $20 billion mega-IPOs by Agricultural Bank of China (601288.SS: Quote, Profile, Research) and insurer AIA Group Ltd (1299.HK: Quote, Profile, Research) are now more than two years ago – and the banks’ business model needs a refresh.

HONG KONG, Oct 16 (Reuters) – Bank of America Corp
hired veteran China banker Margaret Ren as chairman of its China
business, a memo obtained by Reuters on Tuesday showed, bringing
her back into the Merrill fold at a time when the bank is trying
to expand its business inside the country.

BofA has moved to cut staff in Asia and streamline its
business, though it has also embarked on the hiring of several
senior bankers this year, including the signing of ex-Deutsche
Bank regional markets chief Loh Boon Chye, and UBS
M&A banker Stephen Gore.

HONG KONG (Reuters) – Investment banks in Asia are making more money from debt deals than underwriting stock offerings for the first time, a milestone in how evolving regional markets are challenging a business model that has relied upon high-paying equity deals.

While the bond business is booming and increasing its share of Asia’s fee pool, its lower margins mean those gains will not cover the billion-dollar-plus shortfall in equity fees that is making 2012 such a miserable year for investment banks in the region.

HONG KONG, Sept 10 (Reuters) – Investment banks in Asia are
making more money from debt deals than underwriting stock
offerings for the first time, a milestone in how evolving
regional markets are challenging a business model that has
relied upon high-paying equity deals.

While the bond business is booming and increasing its share
of Asia’s fee pool, i ts l ower margins mean those gains will not
cover the billion-dollar-plus shortfall in equity fees that is
making 2012 such a miserable year for investment banks in the
region.

HONG KONG (Reuters) – To some, he’s a crusading champion of the “normal people” trampled when businesses go wrong. To others, he’s an overly aggressive bruiser making Hong Kong less attractive as a financial centre.

In his six years as head of enforcement at the former British colony’s Securities and Futures Commission (SFC), Mark Steward has won the agency’s first criminal convictions for insider dealing, strong-armed bank executives over the sale of Lehman mini-bonds and, most recently, forced a Chinese company to repay investors.

SINGAPORE/HONG KONG (Reuters) – In an otherwise dismal year for Asia’s investment banking industry, a ray of hope has appeared from the most unlikely of places: Malaysia.

State oil company Petronas announced the country’s largest-ever outbound takeover last week, offering to buy its Canadian partner Progress Energy Resources Corp for $4.7 billion to gain control of vast shale gas deposits to supply lucrative Asian markets. The news broke on the same day Malaysian palm oil firm Felda Global listed its $3.1 billion IPO with a 20 percent pop.

SINGAPORE/HONG KONG, July 2 (Reuters) – In an otherwise
dismal year for Asia’s investment banking industry, a ray of
hope has appeared from the most unlikely of places: Malaysia.

State oil company Petronas announced the country’s
largest-ever outbound takeover last week, offering to buy its
Canadian partner Progress Energy Resources Corp for $4.7 billion
to gain control of vast shale gas deposits to supply lucrative
Asian markets. The news broke on the same day Malaysian palm oil
firm Felda Global listed its $3.1 billion IPO with a 20 percent
pop.

HONG KONG, June 27 (Reuters) – Citigroup Inc has named
Jonathan Larsen as global head of its retail bank, filling the
position for the first time with an Asia-based banker, in a move
underscoring the company’s growth in the region.

Citigroup’s consumer bank is one of its three main divisions
in Asia, having merged its corporate and investment bank into
one unit after 2008. The third pillar is its steady,
cash-generative global transactions services (GTS) business,
which handles such tasks as cash management and trade finance.

June 27 (Reuters) – Three years into Barclays’ costly global
expansion from fixed-income shop to full investment bank, the
Asia leg of the build-out is struggling to gain ground on its
rivals.

Barclays hired an A-list of veteran and expensive Asia
investment bankers after the 2008 financial crisis, with the
hope of forming a banking and equities business that would put
them in the same league as Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley.

By Lawrence White and Michael Flaherty

(Reuters) – Three years into Barclays’ costly global expansion from fixed-income shop to full investment bank, the Asia leg of the build-out is struggling to gain ground on its rivals.

Barclays hired an A-list of veteran and expensive Asia investment bankers after the 2008 financial crisis, with the hope of forming a banking and equities business that would put them in the same league as Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley.