Walker strolls back to CLSA

Dr Jim Walker, CLSA's noted global economist is to return to Asia after a couple of years based in his native Scotland. Walker is one of the most well known economists in Asia and one of the few to consistently argue that the Baht was overvalued in the run-up to the Asian crisis in 1997.

Having spent the past few years in Edinburgh, Walker returns to Hong Kong where he will work alongside the bank's strategist Christopher Wood.

CLSA has also announced the appointment of three senior analysts and a senior sales trader.

On the research side, Francis Cheung has been hired to head Asian telecoms research. Cheung comes from Merrill Lynch where he spent two years covering regional telecoms with a focus on China, Korea and South East Asia. Prior to this he was at CSFB.

The bank has also hired Alex Pomento to head its research efforts in the Philippines and Michael Chambers to head research in Indonesia. Pomento also joins CLSA from Merrill Lynch, where he has spent four years as head of research in Manila. Chambers, meanwhile, brings 10 years experience working in Indonesia, where he was most recently head of sales with HSBC.

Finally, CLSA has appointed Chris Rumsby as head of sales trading for Asia based in London. Rumbsy comes to CLSA after four years as head of sales trading at Merrill Lynch in London. Prior to this he ran the team at Fleming Securities in London for seven years.