TOKYO:  Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group (SMFG) has hired Xiao Minjie, a former economist at Daiwa Securities Group, to research China’s economy.

 Xiao, who worked for Daiwa’s research unit from 1994 to 2010, will join SMBC Nikko Securities as an economist for China and other Asian countries on July 1, according to a memo obtained by Bloomberg. Tadataka Ishida, a spokesman for SMBC Nikko in Tokyo, confirmed the contents of the document.

 Global investors are becoming concerned that China’s management of a credit squeeze will deepen a slowdown in the world’s second-largest economy. It’s the first time for Tokyo-based SMBC Nikko to recruit a foreigner as an analyst, strategist or economist for its research operations, Ishida said.

 Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC), Japan’s second-largest bank by market value, has been expanding its securities business since it acquired brokerage operations from Citigroup in 2009. SMBC Nikko has increased its Japan equity research coverage to more than 400 companies from 250 two years ago, Ishida said.

 Xiao, who worked for Japanese hedge fund Funnex Asset Management  from 2010 to 2012, will be based in Tokyo, according to the memo.

(Bloomberg)