Seymour Pierce Asia will be headed by Jim McCafferty, who has stepped down as the broker's head of research to work on a detailed business plan for the venture.
The Asian business, which will be based in Hong Kong, will be formally launched at the start of next year, once the broker has received membership of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
Seymour Pierce, which is backed by private equity group Alchemy, already has a partnership with Singapore finance house Prime Partners but it is keen to expand its range of markets.
"We want to be able to give Asian companies the best possible advice and augmenting our Aim offering with the local markets in Hong Kong and Singapore allows us to do this," Mr McCafferty explained.
There are currently 67 Chinese companies listed on London's Aim market but many of these stocks have proved unpopular, with most trading at around half the valuation of their peers that are listed in China or Hong Kong.
Seymour Pierce, which currently advises five Chinese companies on Aim, hopes that, by offering dual listings in London and Hong Kong, it will be able to help close this valuation gap.
"Some of the ratings on Aim are not as good as on local markets," Mr McCafferty added. "But fund managers tend to have local benchmarks and by giving an Aim company a dual listing, you open it up to a bigger range of investors."
Mid-tier London investment banks such as Seymour Pierce are increasingly turning to the growth markets of India and China to drum up new business. Evolution Securities already has a subsidiary focused on China, while Collins Stewart opened a Singapore office earlier this year after poaching a team from Asian stockbroker Philips Securities.
Mr McCafferty has been replaced as head of research by technology analyst Derek Brown.
"We, along with many other firms, are living through turbulent times," Seymour Pierce managing director Richard Feigen told staff last week. "However, difficult markets lead to opportunities. We are committed to taking advantage of these opportunities and there will be a flow of positive news over the next few months."
