New | China Merchant Securities eyes top 10 spot in Hong Kong market

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Mainland broking firm is embarking on hiring spree in looking to compete with the likes of Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley in the city

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Wilson Wan (right) and Sam Lee aim to make a difference and change the game in the city's investment banking sector. Photo: Jonathan Wong

Ray Chan

Published: 12:30am, 13 Jan 2014Updated: 9:39am, 13 Jan 2014

China Merchants Securities plans to add about 100 jobs at its Hong Kong unit this year in a bid to become one of the top 10 investment banks in the city for equity and debt capital market business.

Wilson Wan, the chief executive of China Merchants Securities (Hong Kong), said he aimed to double revenue at the unit in the next three years in working towards that goal, competing with the likes of Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley.

Commodities futures trading will also be a focus.

"We want to be one of the top 10 in Hong Kong's equity and debt capital markets and I believe we have the ability to do so given strong support from our parent group and close relationship with major mainland company clients," Wan told the

China Merchants Securities, a subsidiary of China Merchants Group, is the mainland's sixth-largest securities house by assets.

Wan, a veteran investment banker who took the helm in Hong Kong in July 2012, said he planned to bring the company's payroll to 470 by the end of this year under his hiring goal.

"We want to transform our business model from a conventional securities brokerage firm into a full-service investment banking platform," he said, adding the firm would focus on the so-called FICC business - fixed income, currencies and commodities - and leverage finance.