In one of the largest single staffing reshuffles of its payments and cash management sales team ever, HSBC has hired three new senior vice-presidents, relocated five staff members and redesignated two people in Singapore to better match the needs of its evolving cash management business there.
Mark Troutman, the new South Asia head of sales for HSBC global payments and cash management, has taken on a leadership role in the reorganised team. He is responsible for delivering solutions to the institution's corporate, non-bank financial and public sector clients, joining the institution from J.P. Morgan where he was regional sales executive for multinational corporates and treasury consulting in Asia. He reports to Richard Jaggard, Asia-Pacific head of sales for global payments and cash management.
HSBC's reorganised cash sales team in Singapore reports directly and indirectly to Troutman, including new hires Lim Ai Chen and Wong Pei Pei and relocated Daniel Callis, Colin Fung, Kiyono Hasaka, Philippe Robert and Sanath Shetty.
"We've experienced unprecedented levels of client activity across the region as clients have heightened their focus on treasury and working capital management post the global financial crisis," said John Laurens, Asia-Pacific head of global payments and cash management at the bank, in a statement on the appointments. "We are therefore accelerating investment in the development of our people, supplemented by selective recruitment of senior transaction banking professionals seeking long-term career progression with a team that leads the market."
Lim and Wong were both hired for senior vice-president of regional sales roles. Lim is focused on media, telecoms and non-US diversified industrials and joined the bank from J.P. Morgan. Wong is focused on real estate, conglomerates, government-linked companies, the public sector, reserve management and shipping; she joined the bank from OCBC.
Callis and Robert were strategically transferred into new sales positions as well. Callis, previously with HSBC in the UK, is focused on resources and energy, diversified industrials, consumer, retail and professional services, and Robert, previously with the bank in Australia, is focused on non-bank financial institutions. Callis replaced Marc Thomas and Robert replaced Winnie Yap, both of whom moved to new positions within global payments and cash management in Singapore.
Fung, Hasaka and Shetty have all been relocated to the city-state as vice-presidents of regional sales. Fung, previously in Hong Kong, and Shetty, previously in India, report to Callis, while Hasaka, previously based in Japan, reports to Lim.
Separate from Troutman's team, Thomas was appointed senior vice-president of regional product management focused on liquidity and reports to Mario Tombazzi, Hong Kong-based senior vice-president of liquidity products, whom the bank hired from J.P. Morgan in 2008. Yap is also a senior vice-president as head of the sales practice management team and reports to Iain Taylor, head of global payments and cash management at HSBC Singapore, who was promoted to the position in January 2009.
HSBC said its restructuring was in response to the changing cash management landscape in Singapore and the region. In a statement, it cited the city-state's emergence as one of the preferred locations for global corporate treasury centres. A representative of the bank added that the moves allow it to "better match" the needs of its clients.
"Singapore is widely regarded by well-reputed companies from the US, Europe and Asia-Pacific as a key location for corporate treasury activities," said Kola Luu, executive director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), in a speech earlier this year. The central bank would not comment on the number of treasury centres currently located in the city.
Many companies, including BMW, Hitachi International and Lenovo, have chosen Singapore as the home of their global treasury operations because of its well developed infrastructure, secure communications lines, educated workforce and investment incentives to locate there. It is also the home of Citi's regional cash processing management unit, the back-office hub of its Asia-Pacific payments processing business.
In addition to the payments and cash changes in Singapore, HSBC hired two new staff for its trade and supply chain business development team in Hong Kong. David Tsoi and Wong Ying Hung joined the bank as senior vice-presidents of regional business development in Asia-Pacific; both report to Desmond Wee, Asia-Pacific head of business development for trade and supply chain at the bank. Tsoi joined from J.P. Morgan where he was Asia-Pacific global supply chain manager in the institution's global trade services group and Wong from Citi where he was head of trade services responsible for product development.
