The Royal Bank of Scotland yesterday announced two key appointments in its Asia-Pacific financial institutions group.
Kenneth Tung will join as managing director and head of the financial institutions group (FIG) for Asia-Pacific. In a press release, RBS said that Tung will be responsible for further developing the bank's relationship with its financial institution clients, and will work with product and sales partners as well as the investment bank in ensuring delivery of the bank’s strong product platform to its clients. The person who previously held this position was James Pearson who resigned from RBS in August 2009. John Mullins, regional head of banking, took on the FIG role after Pearson left as an interim FIG Asia-Pacific head.
Tung, who will be based in Hong Kong, has more than 16 years of investment banking experience, primarily covering major financial institutions across the region. He has held various senior roles with major firms, including head of Greater China financial institutions investment banking at Citi and, most recently, head of Asia FIG at Lazard, a position he held for a bit more than a year. Tung will be reporting globally to William Fall, global head of FIG, and regionally to John McCormick, chief executive officer for global banking and markets in Asia-Pacific.
In another move, Paul McWilliam, who is also based in Hong Kong, will take on a new role within FIG, as head of capital solutions and content for Asia-Pacific. In this new job McWilliam will focus on advising clients on the key developing themes in the sector and their implications for capital management and liability structuring. He is currently head of bank capital and debt advisory for Asia-Pacific within the primary debt markets team at RBS.
McWilliam’s banking career spans more than 20 years. He worked for Goldman Sachs in London for 17 years in various debt market roles prior to joining RBS in Asia in 2006 as co-head of debt capital markets for Asia.
“The Asia-Pacific business is critical to the overall success of our global financial institutions franchise,” said Fall in the press release. “We already have a good level of relationships across the region, but these appointments further reinforce the strength of our team and ensure we leverage our strong product platform for our clients.”
RBS has worked on a number of landmark FIG transactions. Recent deals include: the State Bank of India’s inaugural $1 billion 144A senior unsecured fixed-rate notes; Kookmin Bank’s ¥18 billion ($213 million) dual-tranche Samurai bond; Temasek’s inaugural £700 million ($1.07 billion) dual-tranche bond offering and Industrial Development Bank of India’s inaugural US dollar bond issue.
