News Releases

Hong Kong, 1 September 2010 – Barclays Capital, the investment banking unit of UK-based Barclays Bank PLC, announces the launch of its equity research capabilities in Asia ex-Japan. This is an integral part of the strategic build out of the firm’s equity platform in Asia Pacific, which is one of Barclays Capital’s key priorities in the region this year.

We are pleased to announce that the following have recently joined Barclays Capital to grow the firm’s Asian Equity Research business:

Kirk Yang joins as Managing Director, Head of Technology Hardware Research, Asia ex-Japan.
Mr Yang held the same position at Nomura prior to Barclays. Prior to that, he was Head of Asia Technology Hardware Research at Citigroup from 2002-2008 and was ranked #1 by Institutional Investor, the Financial Times and Greenwich in 2004, 2006, and 2007, and has been top 3 ranked during most of his career. He was also the CFO for a Hong Kong main board listed technology company from 2008-2009.

Andrew Lu joins as Managing Director, Head of Technology Semiconductor Research, Asia ex-Japan.
Mr Lu joins from Citibank, where he had been Head of Asia Pacific Semiconductor Research for 10 years. He was the #1 ranked Semiconductor Analyst in the 2010 Institutional Investor survey, in which he has been consistently top-ranked.

Mark Kellock joins as Director, Head of Insurance Research, Asia ex-Japan.
Mr. Kellock was previously at Macquarie Securities where he was Head of Regional Insurance Research for Asia. Previously, he held a similar position for eight years at Deutsche Bank in Asia and Australia. He was ranked AsiaMoney #4 and Greenwich Europe #4 in the 2009 surveys.

Andrew Lawrence joins as Director, Head of Regional Property Research, Asia ex-Japan. Mr Lawrence was formerly head of Property Research at Samsung and has had a 21 year career in property, including work on the buyside, sellside and in property companies.

Vineet Sharma joins as Director, Head of Consumer Research, Asia ex-Japan.
Previously, Mr Sharma was Head of Consumer & Media Equity Research at JP Morgan Chase where he was ranked #2 in the 2009 Institutional Investor survey and #5 in the 2010 survey. Prior to that, he was at Deutsche Bank as Head of Consumer and Media Research.

May Yan joins as Director, Head of China Banks Research. Ms Yan was formerly an Executive Director – Equity Research, China Financials at Nomura and at Lehman Brothers and was Runner-Up in the 2010 Institutional Investor survey. Prior to that she was a senior credit officer for Moody’s China financial credit research and a credit officer with Bank of China and with Merrill Lynch.

In addition, Barclays Capital has also recently hired a number of junior analysts to support the research effort. All these new hires will be based in Hong Kong.

With top class expertise and a global network, the team will offer our clients enhanced services and will continue to expand sector coverage.

Commenting on the appointments, Stephen O’Sullivan Head of Equity Research, Asia-Ex Japan said: “I am delighted to welcome such a group of talented professionals to the firm in Asia as we grow our equity research business across the region. Their extensive experience and successful track records build on the teamwork that we already have, strengthen our existing research capabilities in Asia and will let us add significant value for our clients.”

Robert Morrice, Chairman and Chief Executive, Asia Pacific, Barclays PLC, said: “With the addition of a top flight equity research team in Hong Kong, we are developing a comprehensive Asian Research platform. Today’s announcement, following on from other recent announcements regarding hiring in our cash equities business highlights that our clients now have access to a broad range of equity products alongside our expertise in strategic advisory, financing and risk management.”

For further information please contact:

Timothy Cuffe, Barclays Capital Communications
Tel: +852 2903 4021

Angie Tang, Barclays Capital Communications
Tel: +852 2903 2305

Notes to editors:

About Barclays Capital
Barclays Capital is the investment banking division of Barclays Bank PLC. With a distinctive business model, Barclays Capital provides large corporate, government and institutional clients with a full spectrum of solutions to their strategic advisory, financing and risk management needs. Barclays Capital has offices around the world, employs over 25,000 people and has the global reach, advisory services and distribution power to meet the needs of issuers and investors worldwide.

For further information about Barclays Capital, please visit our website www.barclayscapital.com.