Cantor Fitzgerald has plans to further expand its headcount in Hong Kong and Singapore, following the opening of a new office in the Lion City. And it’s looking at the i-banks as a source of fresh talent.

The US brokerage, which also employs about 50 people in Hong Kong, has taken on five Singaporean sales traders to service the hedge fund and asset management sectors. William Selig, Cantor’s Singapore managing director, tells us that his new recruits were poached from banks such as Merrill Lynch, HSBC and ABN AMRO.

More bankers will be brought on board as Cantor’s Hong Kong and Singapore operations continue to grow, says Selig. Plans are also in place to open in Thailand.

“The market is a bit flat now but we will hire again soon when it picks up. In Singapore we will recruit sales traders and we may make pre-emptive hiring in fixed income. Otherwise we will grow organically when we see an opportunity,” says Selig.

Cantor mainly wants people with experience of Asian markets, including Japan. Selig adds: “Our traders do the selling too – it’s a hybrid role. We recently hired a trader who we had to teach sales skills to. This was done internally. We migrate our intellectual property from one person to another.”

Patrick Tan, a director at Global Search Partners, says last year recruitment within Singaporean brokerages was “rampant” but replacement-only hiring dominates the current market.

Brokerage roles at local firms don’t usually pay as well as those in banking, says one recruiter who did not want to be named. For example, moving from DBS to its brokerage arm DBS Vickers at the same seniority level would entail a 15-20% pay cut. But international brokerages, such as Cantor and CLSA, can match the dollars on offer at the banks. Hong Kong salaries are often as much as 30% more than Singapore.