CSFB hires big hitter in Singapore

Let no one accuse CSFB of being predictable. Fresh from canning six MDs in a week (plus a few executive directors), the firm is hiring again.

In a move that will almost certainly boost its Singapore operation, it has hired Finian Tan, who ran the Asian operations of Draper Fisher Jurvetson, a private equity firm.

It is thought that Tan is the only native Singaporean running a bulge bracket firm in the Lion City. He will also control Malaysian coverage.

His background is impeccable. Like Lee Kuan Yew and BG Lee he is an alumnus of Cambridge (where he got a doctorate), and he was later deputy secretary of the ministry of trade and industry.

This may be timely - given a recent speech by BG Lee in which he stated that the government plans to sell down and get out of its equity holdings in many of the city state's biggest companies. CSFB should be well positioned should this happen.

A CSFB spokesperson in Hong Kong declined to comment.