Citigroup nabs Asia Deutsche Bank prime broker exec

HONG KONG, April 30 (Reuters) - Citigroup (C.N) said on Monday it hired Lane Hocking from rival Deutsche Bank (DBKGn.DE) to head non-Japan Asia equity finance trading as it builds out its regional prime brokerage team.

Citigroup, which opened a prime brokerage office in Singapore earlier this year, is competing with banks like Morgan Stanley (MS.N), Goldman Sachs (GS.N) and UBS (UBSN.VX) in Asia's rapidly growing hedge funds market, which had assets under management of $140 billion last year, according to Eurekahedge.

Prime brokers provide services like loans, stock lending and trading to hedge funds.

Hocking, who will join as a managing director, had been head of prime services for Deutsche in Japan and he will report to Hannah Goodwin, Citigroup's Asia Pacific prime brokerage chief.