Asia moves: HSBC appoints Apac CIO, Crédit Agricole names regional transaction banking head, and more

Cecilia Chan has been appointed chief investment officer, Asia-Pacific at HSBC Global Asset Management. A widely recognised expert in fixed income, Chan has been at the firm since 1994 holding a number of senior roles, most recently as chief investment officer, Asia-Pacific.

She will assume her new role on February 1, 2021, and will be reporting to Joanna Munro, HSBC Asset Management’s global chief investment officer. Bill Maldonado, the current CIO for Asia-Pacific and global equities, is to depart from the firm to pursue other opportunities.

Crédit Agricole has named Laurent Proutière as the bank’s new Asia-Pacific head of international trade and transaction banking. Proutière has been at the firm since 2002. Prior to taking up his new role on December 18, 2020, he was chief executive officer of Crédit Agricole CIB’s Taipei branch. Over his 18 years at the bank he has held a variety of roles, including within the bank’s credit derivatives team in London from 2007 and the Asia loan syndication team in Hong Kong from 2012.

Based in Singapore, Proutière will report to Laurent Chenain, global head of international trade and transaction banking, and regionally to Michel Roy, senior regional officer for Asia-Pacific.

Proutière will be succeeded as chief executive officer of Crédit Agricole CIB’s Taipei branch by Benjamin Lamberg. Since 2012, Lamberg has been responsible for developing the firm’s bond platform in Asia, and enhanced the Bank’s capability to provide cross-border financing to its clients. Based in Taipei, he will report to Michel Roy.

Law firm Mayer Brown has announced the promotion of Boya Shen at its Beijing-based banking and finance practice. Boya’s practice includes project finance, structured finance and energy and infrastructure, and bank and acquisition finance. Before joining Mayer Brown in 2018, Shen spent four years as an associate at White & Case’s China practice.

Global financing specialist EquitiesFirst has appointed James Gee-Chul Lee as managing director and chief executive officer for South Korea, while Ratakorn Kiatikajornthada has been named managing director of the firm’s Thailand operations.

Gee-Chul Lee has more than 24 years of experience in financial services and legal consultancy. Prior to joining EquitiesFirst, he was a relationship partner for global institutional clients at South Korean law firm Kim & Chang. He has also served as general counsel for Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Korea, and worked at international legal firms Sidley Austin, Skadden Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom and Clifford Chance.

Bangkok-based Kiatikajornthada was previously head of equity capital markets at Macquarie’s Thailand branch, and brings over 15 years of experience in investment banking and private equity, where he has specialised in business development, capital market analysis and alternative investment strategies. He has also held senior positions at RHB Securities and Daiwa Securities.

In their new roles, Gee-Chul Lee and Kiatikajornthada will lead the firm’s origination strategies in South Korea and Thailand respectively, driving operations across all areas of the business.

Citi Treasury and Trade Solutions has named Sanjeev Jain as Asia-Pacific head of payments and receivables, a role he will carry out in conjunction with his current position as head of digital channels and data. Jain is also currently regional product head and regional head of implementations at Citi’s Treasury and Trade Solutions division, and is now in the process of transitioning out of these two roles.

In his new role, Jain will oversee the upcoming launch of ‘Spring by Citi’ in Asia-Pacific, a digital consumer payments service for corporates. Hong Kong-based Jain joined Citi in 2008, and has held various sales and product management roles across the bank’s transaction services division.

HSBC Singapore has appointed Noor Adhami as head of securities services Singapore, a role she will assume on February 1, 2021. Adhami joined HSBC in 2004. For the last four years, she has held the role of regional head of global liquidity and cash management for the Middle East, North Africa and Turkey, while also heading the securities services for an interim period.

In her new role, Adhami will report to Brian Godins, head of securities services Asia-Pacific and Gavin Powell, head of markets and securities services Singapore.