RBS appoints co-heads of China investment banking

The Royal Bank of Scotland has appointed two co-heads of China investment banking, including a new hire from J.P. Morgan, as it aims to boost its wholesale and investment banking business in this key market.

In a release issued yesterday, the bank said China investment banking will be jointly led by Joe Xiang, who was previously managing director and head of real estate advisory for Greater China, and Raymond Yin, who joins from J.P. Morgan where he was chief representative and head of general industrials for the China market.

The UK bank has also appointed Jinfeng Ben to head of local corporates for China, promoting him from his previous position as head of local corporate coverage for North China. Ben will continue to be based in Beijing and will work closely with Xiang and Yin to deliver the full suite of RBS's global corporate banking products and services to its domestic clients in China.

"China is a core market for RBS and we will continue to invest in top talent to service our core corporate and institutional clients with the full range of banking solutions to meet their needs, leveraging on our global product strengths in corporate finance, M&A advisory, foreign exchange, rates, commodities, cash management, trade finance, as well as onshore renminbi products," John Mullins, RBS's regional head of banking, said in the release.

Xiang and Yin will both be based in Hong Kong and will report to Mullins as well as to Lawrence Lam, head of global banking and markets for Greater China. They will work closely with product specialists across corporate finance, equity origination and primary debt markets.

Xiang has 19 years of experience in investment banking, principal investment and financing and has previously worked at J.P. Morgan Asia-Pacific and at GE Capital Structured Finance Group.

Yin is not far behind with 15 years of structured finance experience and has held various roles at Credit Agricole, Schroders, Citigroup and J.P. Morgan. According to the RBS release, he is "widely" recognised for his involvement in a series of marquee transactions.

Ben has 11 years of commercial and investment banking experience. Before he joined RBS, he worked with Bank of China and as an independent financial advisor.

RBS is putting additional focus on wholesale and investment banking in Asia as it continues to divest its retail and commercial banking operations in the region to various buyers (a couple of deals have already been clinched and others are in the works), and has recently made several senior hires for the wholesale and investment banking business. Among the most recent additions are Anil Gudibande, who was hired from AIG Investments in late August to become head of corporate financing and risk solutions for India; and Emil Wolter, a 10-year buy-side veteran who was hired in early September from Polaris Capital to become head of Asian regional equity strategy.