Asian hedge funds may be cold, but the Asian prime brokerage industry remains sizzling, if the latest hires by Citigroup are any indication.

Firing the latest salvo in the prime brokerage talent wars in Asia, Citi said today it has added eight professionals to four Asia offices, bringing its total manpower in the region to 45 people. It also said that it merged its Japanese prime brokerage with the rest of its Asian business earlier this year, creating a single platform for the region.

“We are seeing increased demand from our clients across the prime finance business in Asia Pacific,” that division’s head, Hannah Goodwin, said.

Rosario An and Sukura Sugibayashi have joined the firm’s Tokyo office, the former from Deutsche Bank and the latter from Morgan Stanley. An was named head of securities lending; Sugibayashi a senior synthetic equity trader.

In Hong Kong, Citi built from within, transferring Nigel Quy, Charles Lam, Rob McVie and Alison Saito to the group. Quy will serve as vice president in funding, Lam as business development manager, McVie as client service manager and Saito as product development manager.

Danielle Vint, another internal transfer, will handle the prime brokerage’s fixed-income desk in Singapore. Citi also boosted its Australian prime finance team to eight with the hire of Maria Hilado from UBS. She will focus on equity finance in the Sydney office.

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