When Daniel Lian changes his job, the media are sure to follow. When he resigned from the NatWest office in Singapore recently, the permanent Reuters camera, one of only four in the country, also moved out. Sure enough, when he started at ANZ the camera reappeared, enabling his popular television appearances to continue. This is impressive testament to the currency and bond strategist's reputation as a television economics pundit.
He first started about five years ago. He now appears on television as many as four times a week, for anything up to 15 minutes, on the main business news programmes. He attributes his popularity to his specific and accurate predictions. "I'm always willing to take a position," he says.
However, the 34-year-old from Singapore is not just a telegenic face. According to ANZ's head of research in London, Jerome Booth, who recruited him to ANZ, Lian is "one of the top currency and bond strategists in Asia. I didn't employ him to be a media personality, but on the strength of his analysis."
Lian's frequent comments on the Asian markets have so far been very accurate: the ANZ research department predicted the Korean devaluation.