Canaccord names senior energy banker Asia head

Canaccord Financial Inc. continues the revamp of its global investment banking management team with the hiring of a new Asian head with stints in senior roles at Deutsche Bank and HSBC Plc on his resume.

Canaccord named Peter O'Malley chief executive officer of its Asian investment banking operations. Mr. O'Malley had founded his own firm, Kenosis Capital Partners, after working in senior jobs at HSBC and Deutsche, with a focus on natural resources.

He was head of resources and energy banking at HSBC and head of natural resources investment banking at Deutsche in the Asia Pacific region, Canaccord said in announcing his appointment.

The team he built at Kenosis also is coming over to Canaccord, and will work in Hong Kong.

Canaccord, like most investment banking firms, is struggling to turn a profit in slow markets. Still, it has been successful in luring experienced bankers to its growing global operations as Canadian firms have remained more successful and stable than many others around the globe.

Canaccord has named three new regional heads of late. In June, the firm posted Dan Daviau, one of its most successful Toronto-based bankers, to New York to be the new head of operations there. Earlier this month, the company hired Alexis de Rosnay, who had previously worked as a senior banker at Lazard, to run investment banking in the U.K. and Europe.

"Peter's appointment further cements the strength of our platform in Asia and the calibre of our global management team," Canaccord CEO Paul Reynolds said in an internal announcement. "It's another indication of the strong industry talent we're attracting to the Canaccord platform."

In a statement, Mr. O'Malley said that Canaccord's "global platform" will "allow us to better serve our long-standing clients in Asia. Canaccord Genuity's well known expertise in the resource sector and its broad distribution network will be highly beneficial to many of our important clients."