Yuanta sees fourfold gain in HK staff

Yuanta Financial Holding Co (元大金控) will increase the number of workers at its securities unit's Hong Kong office fourfold this year as part of its Greater China expansion plan.

Yuanta Securities Co (元大證券), the largest brokerage in Taiwan and biggest shareholder of Singapore's Kim Eng Holdings Ltd (金英證券), will hire about 150 people to add to its current 50, said Alex Lee (李鴻基), president of Yuanta Securities. Some of the increase will include internal transfers of research and sales employees.

Yuanta is expanding beyond its home base where more than 100 Taiwanese brokerages are cutting fees to compete for business.

Economic growth in Asia is expected to outperform the US with the IMF forecasting the US to expand 1.5 percent this year, compared with China's 10 percent growth, Lee said.

"We got to be able to provide a full range of services to the other part of the world," Lee told reporters in Singapore yesterday, adding that "Kim Eng will play a very important role in our expansion."

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc lifted its stake in Kim Eng to 14.6 percent from 4 percent last Friday, becoming the second-biggest shareholder after Yuanta Securities, which owns 28 percent of Kim Eng, Bloomberg data shows.