JPMorgan lures Chen

JPMorgan has bolstered its Asian financials team, bringing in Samuel Chen to the role of senior financial analyst. For the US firm, heÆll report directly to Sunil Garg, managing director, Asian financials research and Frank Gong, head of China equity research. He'll be working in both Hong Kong and China.

Chen shifts over to JPMorgan from Fox-Pitt, Kelton (FPK) where he worked since 2004. During his time at FPK, Chen was an Asian bank analyst covering China and Hong Kong, where he also worked with Garg, who crossed over to JPMorgan in early 2005. His experience also includes time at Goldman Sachs, where he was a financial analyst, Asia-Pacific banks and financials.

ChenÆs move to JPMorgan comes after the firm reassigned Joseph Zeng, who was previously covering the sector to its investment banking division. In his new role, Zeng will work in the financial institutions group (FIG) in investment banking and will report to Marc Jones, JPMorganÆs head of FIG for Asia Pacific.

The hiring of Chen comes as JPMorgan looks to expand its regional financials research coverage.