Merrill Lynch hires two senior traders from Barclays

Merrill Lynch has hired two senior traders in Hong Kong – Herr Ling Yeoh as head of proprietary local currency trading and Amit Bansal as director of south Asia rates trading, both moving from Barclays Capital.

Yeoh reports to Rig Karkhanis, head of Pacific Rim foreign exchange and local currency trading, and Bansal to Ravi Mankude, head of rates local currency trading for the Asia-Pacific region.

A source close to the US dealer says the Asian fixed-income, currencies and commodities department in Asia has added more than 50 staff across derivatives, trading, sales, structuring and principal investment since January.Merrill Lynch declined to comment on this number or on the new hires.