It has also hired two staff members for its new representative office in Shanghai, part of its Hong Kong Ji Asia Research subsidiary.

Neil Juggins, previously head of research with both Cazenove and Evolution, will become Ji Asia's head of Hong Kong and China research. He has over 15 years' experience working in Asia, including Hong Kong and Singapore.

Greg Austin, previously a senior salesman with JPMorgan Cazenove in Hong Kong, will become Ji Asia's global head of sales. He has over 13 years' sales experience, 11 years of which was in Asia.

Ji Asia will produce fundamental ideas-driven research, mirroring Japaninvest's existing Japan product. Research will be distributed to the group's institutional client base via sales desks in Hong Kong, London and New York. Stock coverage will commence with China stocks and extend to other Asian stocks over time.

Rupert Eastwood, chief executive, says: 'We are seeing increasing demand for our research and our Asia expansion is a vital step in our evolution from a one country research boutique into a pan-Asian research broker. I believe the decline in the global banks' competitiveness and the increased requirement from institutional clients for impartial fundamental research presents us with an ideal entry point into Asian broking. We are delighted to announce that in these times of global financial turmoil, we are expanding into new markets.'

Founded in 2002 and with has offices in London, New York, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Shanghai, Japaninvest Group provides 100 institutional investor clients across the globe with independent Japanese equity market research, publishing more than 1,500 reports on 500 companies since 2003.

Agency execution is provided through the group's independently-managed IND-X Securities business, which also executes on an anonymous broker-neutral best execution basis for hedge funds and other independent research providers. The group also operates an independent quantitative research consultancy for the buy-side and offers commission management services.