Merrill pillages Lehman prime broking exec

Dan McNicholasÆs move from Lehman Hong Kong to Lehman Singapore was announced only two months ago. He had gone there to supervise Lehman's plan to build a prime broking presence in Singapore. Yet he has now been liberated from Lehman and trafficked straight back to Hong Kong to work for Merrill Lynch.

McNicholas has the title of director on the financing sales team in Hong Kong and will have primary responsibility for selling financing services to quantitative and professional trading clients. He will report to regional co-head Eddie Guillemette.

Prime broking director at Merrill, Paul Thomas, will relocate to Hong Kong from Australia next month. He manages the financing relationships in the region and will be part of the financing sales team located in Hong Kong. He continues to report to Eddie Guillemette.

Additionally, Phil Pineo is joining Merrill Lynch as a vice-president in the financing sales team in Australia. He will have primary responsibility for selling financing services to Australian clients. He joins from Satellite Asset Management in London. He has also worked for GlobeOp, UBS and Morgan Stanley, all in the UK. He will report to Paul Thomas functionally and John Laws locally.