Banks compete to hire bilingual China-savvy analysts

China's stock trading fever is spreading to Hong Kong's job market, as banks and brokers scramble to sign up analysts capable of bridging the gap between China and the global investment community.

The Shanghai Composite has more than doubled over the past 12 months, making China the best performing market in the world and drawing the attention of fund managers everywhere.

Though some investment banks - such as UBS and Goldman Sachs - have long operated joint-ventures that produce both Chinese and English-language research, the opening late last year of the Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect has prompted many others to rethink the way they cover Asia's second largest stock market.

HSBC is in the middle of hiring 10-15 new analysts to cover Chinese stocks, something William Bratton, the bank's head of Asia-Pacific equity research, believes could be just the beginning as the dynamics of investing in the region shift further towards China.

"I struggle to see how you can run a viable equity business in Asia over the next five years without getting China right", said Mr Bratton.

The Stock Connect - a cross-border share trading link - has given foreign investors access to hundreds of Shanghai-listed stocks without the need for a licence. More shares are set to join the list with the anticipated launch of a similar tie-up between the Hong Kong and Shenzhen stock exchanges later this year.

Meanwhile, Chinese brokerages, insurers and asset managers are looking to build their capabilities outside the mainland, creating an extra source of demand for bilingual analysts and bankers with international experience. Huatai Securities recently hired Lu Ting, former China economist at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, as head of research, just one of a number of new additions ahead of its planned Hong Kong flotation.

The challenge for those looking to hire has been finding the right people - typically junior stock analysts and equity salespeople, often in their late 20s or early 30s, who have fluent Mandarin and English, and are comfortable working outside China.

"They want to find someone they can put in front of investors in Boston or San Francisco without losing any of that Chinese expertise," said Marlon Sanchez, head of Asia prime finance distribution at Deutsche Bank. "These individuals over the next five years are going to be some of the most important as we try to right-size the amount of time we spend on China."

The competition has become so fierce that some in-demand candidates have been able to double or even triple their basic salaries as rivals outbid one another for their services, according to people familiar with the job market. This has caused some to wonder if frothy valuations are no longer confined to Chinese stock prices alone.

"The Chinese banking landscape has gone through these periods of explosion in the past where disproportionate demand has made many people very rich," said one Asia-based headhunter. "These are flashes in the pan."

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