Barclays Capital has announced it had set up a new syndicate bond, sales and trading team in Zurich to bolster its presence in the Swiss bond market.

“The addition of a Swiss franc bond issuance capability will enable the firm to provide Swiss corporates and other issuers with the full range of bond funding options,” said Bob Mabon, head of investment banking for Switzerland at Barclays.

Barclays Capital, the investment banking division of Barclays Bank, said the Swiss bond market offered global issuers a chance to access another currency and investor base for funding, highlighting record Swiss corporate bond issuance in 2009.

“Barclays Capital wants to become a key player in the Swiss franc bond market,” said Kuno Kennel, head of markets Switzerland, who is responsible for developing the bank’s domestic Swiss franc capital markets business.

Kennel, who joined Barclays in March from Royal Bank of Scotland, will work with Mabon and Andreas Glaus, director of investment banking Switzerland, to introduce the new service to clients.

In addition, Barclays has appointed Martin Meili as head of Swiss franc syndicate, Reto Meyer as head of Swiss franc sales and Beda Emmenegger as head of Swiss franc trading. Meili and Meyer join from RBS, while Emmenegger joins from Credit Suisse, where he was a senior credit trader.

“These hires will allow us to further strengthen our franchise and will deepen our existing dialogue with our clients,” said Kennel.