BNP Paribas has announced the expansion of its hedge fund relationship team with the appointments of Conrad Johnson as a director in New York and Stephanie Wong as an associate director in Hong Kong.

Johnson joins BNP Paribas from JP Morgan Securities in New York, where he worked in fixed-income prime brokerage. In his new role, he will assist his team in optimising the firm's relationships across its various business lines with leading hedge funds.

Before joining BNP Paribas, Wong was with HSBC managing hedge fund relationships in Asia. She began her career in 2000 with JP Morgan's structured finance collateralised debt obligation and loan obligation group and later moved to a hedge fund credit function with the group in Singapore.

Meanwhile, Mark Walker has relocated from New York to London to become head of hedge fund relationship management for Europe. With more than 15 years' experience, Walker will help drive the bank's efforts in the growing European hedge fund market.

Mark will also spearhead the hedge fund capital markets solutions group by drawing upon the vast capabilities of the firm to deliver capital introduction, and more recently debt capital markets and equity capital markets syndication and structuring solutions. Johnson, Wong and Walker all report to global hedge fund relationship manager Talbot Stark.

'Hedge funds are a core client sector for BNP Paribas,' Stark says. 'Mark, Conrad and Stephanie will draw on our extensive footprint across Europe, the US and Asia and our superior capability in derivatives across asset classes, to set ourselves apart from our competitors by adding value for our hedge fund clients through the delivery of dynamic solutions.'

The BNP Paribas hedge fund relationship management team was formed in 2006 to co-ordinate client coverage across fixed income, equity derivatives and commodities, with the aim of ensuring that BNP Paribas effectively covers its hedge fund clients and develops its business in close alignment with their needs.

BNP Paribas is a global banking and financial services present in more than 85 countries, with 155,000 employees, including 15,000 in the US. The group is active in corporate and investment banking, asset management and services and retail banking (in France and Italy).