You can't keep a good man down. So Andre Lee has set up his own firm, 01 Inc, in Seoul. Lee, who ran failed investment bank Peregrine's fixed-income side, is credited with single-handedly created the Asian debt markets. When Asia melted down, as did Lee's bonds and Peregrine, he looked much less visionary .
His new operation will, says 01's brochure, open "the door to a brave new world of finance through the proactive use of information technology". This techno-fix, Lee hopes, will "demythologize the investment banking process". His brochure states: "We will have the ability to compress time by reducing countless wasted hours in hard-to-arrange meetings, unanswered phone calls and the physical delivery of vast tracts of documentation. We will guarantee greater efficiency for less fees as a result."
Lee reckons "digital finance" is the way forward. What it is isn't yet clear, but it's not the old model of a phone salesperson selling bonds to the same 100 institutions. The emphasis is on hi-tech, low-cost business, with savings being passed on to clients.
01's investment bankers have, in Lee's words, a dual background in IT and finance that makes them "integrated information bankers".