The senior hires are part of the private bank's drive to extend its reach to ultra-wealthy clients in the region.

HSBC Private Banking has named two senior figures for its Asia business, saying it is making a “renewed” focus on the ultra-high net worth client segment.

Gabriel Tam has been appointed regional head of UHNW Solutions, Asia, with responsibility for connecting “sophisticated clients” with the product capability of both HSBC’s Private Banking and Global Banking and Markets product teams. Tam has more than 17 years of financial markets experience. 

Tam was most recently the Asia-Pacific head of equity derivatives distribution at Bank of America Merrill Lynch in Hong Kong, responsible for sales of flow and structured Asian equity derivatives to institutional clients globally. Prior to that, Tam was Asia-Pacific head of convertible bonds distribution at BAML. 

In the second hire, the private bank appointed Erik Bergqvist as head of UHNW segment management, to develop and deliver the private bank’s proposition. Bergqvist and a new UHNW servicing team will support UHNW clients across Asia-Pacific. Bergqvist, who was previously at Julius Baer and UBS, brings more than 17 years of financial services and wealth management experience.

“We are developing a unique proposition for our UHNW clients and family offices, many of whom have derived significant wealth from their businesses. In addition to providing clients with sophisticated investment solutions, we aim to deliver strong linkages into our commercial banking business, to help structure wealth through our market-leading trust business, and to open the full global network of the HSBC Group,” Siew Meng Tan, regional head of HSBC Private Banking, Asia Pacific, said. 

The group said it is “investing considerably to grow its Asian private banking business, hiring for 700 roles over five years to the end of 2022 and investing $100 million in digital and technology by the end of 2020”.

A report last year by UBS and PricewaterhouseCoopers pointed to how China has become the hottest generator of new billionaires, although that report was issued before the latest wobbles in mainland Chinese equity markets.