Peregrine's last days, by Andre Lee
First start in investment banking
Pioneering the Asian bond business
Building the business at Peregrine
The approach of the Asian financial crisis
What was Lehman in Hong Kong like to work for when you first arrived? I have to say that the management of Lehman at that time - we started our business officially under Howard Pollock - was extremely supportive. Howard felt it was important for Lehman to be able to originate revenues in Asia, not simply to distribute product. So I think the management support was there, although the ability to offer greater support was not because the infrastructure of the company was such that Asia still wasn't a tremendously important place for Lehman.
When did you start building a team?
I didn't hire my first person until July 1993: that was Lynne Chui. And to this day, hiring her remains one of my best decisions. In the meantime, I did everything myself. I went around trying to originate product, I would work with lawyers to try and clear product structures and delivery. I would work with settlement people, custodians.