Hot demand jacks up pay of S-E Asia's top investment bankers

[HONG KONG] A recruitment firm looking to track down Asia's most highly prized investment bankers would normally begin searching in their natural habitat - Hong Kong.

Now, a headhunter would more likely book a flight to Manila, home to one-man deal factory Lauro Baja of Swiss bank UBS.

Mr Baja is among Asia's highest-paid bankers with estimated income topping US$3 million, according to recruitment consultants and a former UBS colleague, and he personifies South-east Asia's emergence as a major new centre for deal-makers.

The region has seen US$46.5 billion worth of capital raisings and…