The Commonwealth Bank boosts its equities capability with senior appointments

8 December 2009: The Commonwealth Bank has strengthened its Institutional Equities team with the announcement of 16 senior appointments in Sydney and Melbourne.

David Hancock, Executive General Manager of Institutional Equities and Debt Capital Markets said: “We are delighted to have such a strong group of experienced Institutional research analysts and sales people join the Commonwealth Bank.

“These appointments further complement the breadth of industry expertise and talent we already have in our team.

“For the past 12 months, we have focused on building and renewing our Institutional Equities business and these new appointments will significantly enhance our capability in this important product set,” David said.

 

RESEARCH APPOINTMENTS INCLUDE:

MARK STOREY, Head of Research Product, Sydney

Mark has been appointed as the Head of Research Product based in Sydney.

Previously, Mark worked at Credit Suisse for four-and-a-half-years where he covered the Telecommunications sector. He was also an analyst with ABN AMRO (now Royal Bank of Scotland) in the Media and Telecommunications sector. Prior to this marked worked as a management consultant.

Financial Institutions Group

BEN ZUCKER, Head of Financial Institutions Research, Sydney

Ben has been appointed Head of Financial Institutions Research, where he will be responsible for the coverage of both the major and regional banks. 

Previously, Ben worked at Macquarie Bank for three-and a--half-years where he covered the major constituents of the S&P ASX 200 Financials Index. Prior to this, he was a Senior Manager at Accenture specialising in mergers and acquisitions and cost reduction programmes for major financial institutions.

JEFF CAI, Senior Analyst, Financial Institutions Research, Sydney

Jeff has been appointed as Senior Analyst of Financial Institutions Research.

Previously, Jeff worked at Macquarie Bank for three years where he was responsible for coverage of the regional banks together with key report writing and secondary coverage of the major banks. He also worked at AMP as a Financial Analyst in the Group Finance team.

Real Estate

DAVID LLOYD, Head of Real Estate Investment Trust Research, Sydney

David has been appointed as the Head of Real Estate Investment Trust Research (REIT) and will have primary responsibility for coverage of stocks in this sector.

Previously, David worked in the REIT team at Goldman Sachs JBWere for three years, and in the Corporate Finance team at Deloitte, specialising in valuations.

JAMES DRUCE, Associate Analyst, Real Estate Investment Trust Research, Sydney

James has been appointed as Associate Analyst of Property Research. James was previously in real estate investment banking at Macquarie Bank for three years where he worked in advisory and equity capital markets.

Resources

ANDREW HINES, Head of Resources, Melbourne

Andrew has been appointed as the Head of Resources based in Melbourne.

Previously, Andrew was Managing Director of Equity Research at Morgan Stanley Australia forsix years.He has more than 15 years experience in equities having previously been a rated analyst in three different sectors; Resources, Oil and Gas and Telecommunications.

TOMAS VASQUEZ, Associate Analyst, Resources, Melbourne

Tomas has been appointed as an Associate Analyst of Resources.

Tomas worked at ABN AMRO as an Analyst for more than two years in the equity research team covering small and mid-cap companies. He has eight years experience in the financial markets on both the buy and sell-side in Australia and Colombia.

Basic Materials

MICHAEL WARD, Head of Basic Materials Research, Sydney

Michael has been appointed as the Head of Basic Materials Research where he will cover Building Materials, Paper & Packaging and the Chemicals & Steel sectors. 

Michael has covered Basic Materials for 10 years having previously worked at Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse.

ATHLENE PIECHE, Analyst, Basic Materials Research, Sydney

Athlene has been appointed as an Analyst of Basic Materials.

Previously, Athlene was an Analyst in the Basic Materials Research team at Morgan Stanley for three years, where she was responsible for primary coverage of the Steel sector, together with key report writing and secondary coverage of the Building Materials, Paper & Packaging and Chemicals sectors.

Prior to this Athlene worked as an Analyst in the Asset Management division of Credit Suisse.

Telecommunications and Media                                              

DIGBY GILMOUR, Head of Telco and Media Research, Sydney

Digby has been appointed as the Head of Telco and Media research where he will be

responsible for coverage of the Telco and Media stocks.

Recently, Digby worked at Citibank where he was a rated Analyst covering the media sector for almost three years, and prior to that worked at ABN AMRO covering small media stocks.

Developers and Contractors

BEN BROWNETTE, Head of Developers & Contractors Research, Sydney

Ben has been appointed as Head of Developers & Contractors research.

Previously, Ben worked at Aegis, an independent research group, for three years where he had primary coverage of the Industrials sector with specific emphasis on Developers & Contractors and Infrastructure.

Prior to this Ben worked as an Analyst for Boston Avenue Capital, a US- based Hedge fund, with primary research responsibility for Industrials.

Database

NIZAR TORLAKOVIC, Head of Database Research, Sydney

Nizar has been appointed as Head of Database Research, where he will be responsible for driving changes around the internal database structure and developing a quantitative product for the business.

Most recently, Nizar was Head of Database/Quantitative Research at Citigroup for one year and prior to this, he was Head of Database for Credit Suisse. Nizar has also held IT consulting roles with American Express and NRMA.

 

SALES APPOINTMENTS INCLUDE:

BOYD CARTER, Head of Sales, Melbourne

Boyd has been appointed as Head of Sales in Melbourne. Previously, Boyd spent 15 years at Merrill Lynch Equities, where for the last six years he was Head of Research Sales.

WILL CORKILL, Senior Research Sales, Sydney

Will has been appointed as an Institutional Equity sales person and has more than 15 years of equity markets experience.

Will was at Macquarie Bank for nine years most recently as a Portfolio Manager and Head of Investments for the Private Bank, and also as a Senior Research Analyst. Prior to these he worked at ABN AMRO as a Senior Research Analyst for six years.

SARAH BEEBY, Senior Research Sales, Sydney

Sarah has been appointed as a Senior Research Sales person.

Sarah was an Executive Director of Institutional Research Sales at Goldman Sachs JBWere for 10 years. She brings a number of strong institutional relationships having overseen top tier panel positions with several large domestic accounts, and managing additional portfolio manager and analyst relationships across the broader client base.

NIC THOMPSON, Institutional Sales Trader, Melbourne 

Nic has been appointed as an Institutional Sales Trader in Melbourne where he will be responsible for developing the Institutional Equities business in the Melbourne market.

Nic previously worked as a Sales Trader at Morgan Stanley for and prior to this he was at Goldman Sachs JBWere.

ENDS

 

For further information please contact:

Nichole Ismay

Commonwealth Bank

P: 02 9378 5965