HSBC Middle East makes senior equity research appointment

He joins from UBS in Hong Kong, where he spent seven years, most recently as Head of the Asian regional Small Cap team, covering China and Hong Kong-listed companies. He will be based in Dubai, and will start work at HSBC in October 2008.

Lepper was voted number one Regional Small Cap Analyst in the Extel 2007 Survey, number one by Asia Money in 2005, number two in the Institutional Investor rankings for 2004, 2005 and 2006 and number three in 2007 by Institutional Investor.

HSBC Global Research currently covers 42 listed companies in the MENA region, including 11 in the UAE. This number is set to grow as the bank sees increasing international investor interest and demand for regional equities. HSBC remains the only international investment bank to offer brokerage services on the UAE's two domestic securities markets.

"One of the historical barriers to international institutions investing in the region has been the lack of quality research of listed companies," said Rafi Ahmed, HSBC's co-Head of Global Markets, MENA.

"As a global bank serving the needs of the international investment community, HSBC has been instrumental in addressing this, and has invested heavily in building a market-leading equities capability in the region, spanning research, brokerage, advisory, custody and clearing. The appointment of a senior Equity Analyst covering the region's leading markets is another stage in that process."