Bear Stearns has been battered by US sub-prime woes but is growing its business in Asia. Time to send in your CV?

Last month John Moore, former co-head of Bear’s European fixed income division, was appointed chief executive for Asia. His appointment came after Bear recruited Haruhiko Masuda, a mergers and acquisitions adviser from Mizuho Securities, as head of investment banking in Japan. Based in Tokyo and Hong Kong, Moore will report to Michel Péretié, Europe and Asia head. Péretié says the Bear Stearns business in Asia is growing at a “significant rate” and that it remains committed to increasing its investment in people (aka hiring staff).

Bear’s appetite for Asian hires is nothing new. John Jessen, group CEO at headhunter Smith & Jessen, says the US bank has been on a huge hiring spree after making a lot of money in the credit space over the last few years. Despite this, he says, its Asia sales force remains 40% the size of its peers’, and outside USD-denominated credit products Bear is not a major player. In the first half of this year, for example, Dealogic tables show Bear ranked outside the top ten for all areas of debt capital markets activity.

How much longer can Bear sustain its Asian hiring aspirations? Not long, given the credit crisis, predicts Jessen: “In Hong Kong, 50% of people on the trading floor have been at Bear Stearns less than one year, which means it has forked out a lot of money very recently to hire all these people with guarantees.”

Add rumours of a potential takeover and anyone joining may be justifiably concerned. Jessen says if he was interviewing with Bear Stearns and hadn’t signed a contract, he would definitely think twice. “Its revenue base is less diversified than its peers’ and its core revenue base is suffering, which will place a strain across the entire bank.”