Vicente Pons has joined Exotix, a London-based frontier market investment banking boutique, as a director in the structured products team, an appointment that strengthens the firm's struct

Vicente Pons has joined Exotix, a London-based frontier market investment banking boutique, as a director in the structured products team, an appointment that strengthens the firm's structuring capabilities in sub-Saharan Africa.

Pons has focused his banking career on the emerging markets of Africa, having initiated African local currency trading at Citibank. He initially joined Citigroup's emerging markets credit trading team as a structured credit trader, later setting up the local access fixed income business. He then moved to Renaissance Capital as head of fixed-income trading and equity derivatives for Africa.

At Exotix, he will be part of the structuring group, advising on local currency issuance and investment opportunities in sub-Saharan Africa and other frontier emerging markets.

'We are very pleased that someone of Vicente's calibre is joining our structured products desk,' says Alon Caspi, head of structured products at Exotix. 'It reaffirms out commitment to expand our structuring activities in frontier emerging markets and will give us additional capability in local currency origination and structuring.'

Exotix is an investment banking boutique specialising in illiquid and frontier emerging markets, where financial markets are not well developed, debt trading is illiquid, stock exchanges are small, and it is often difficult for non-locals to invest.

The firm, which has offices in London, New York, Buenos Aires, Sao Paolo and Tokyo, is active in illiquid bonds and loans, equities, structured finance, capital raising and asset management for clients mainly consisting of hedge funds, asset managers, banks and other institutional investors. It specialises in the debt markets of various African and Latin American countries as well as other esoteric markets, such as Cuba, Bosnia and North Korea.