Credit Suisse named Marcel Kreis as chairman of private banking Asia-Pacific and Francesco de Ferrari as head of private banking Asia-Pacific from 1 January 2012. Kreis previously had been head of private banking Asia-Pacific; De Ferrari will take on this role. De Ferrari is currently head of private banking Italy and will relocate to Singapore on 1 August to assume the role of deputy head of private banking Asia-Pacific before taking up the more senior role on in January. He will report to Walter Berchtold, chief executive of private banking, and Osama Abbasi, chief executive of Asia-Pacific.

Mercer promoted Russell Clarke, the chief investment officer for Asia-Pacific, to the new role of global CIO, mainstream assets. Clarke is based in Australia and reports to Andrew Kirton, the London-based global CIO. Meanwhile Cara Williams took up the role of global head of the wealth management business. Williams was previously the global chief operating officer at Mercer's investment consulting arm. 

Bank of America Merrill Lynch hired Hans Diederen as managing director and head of Southeast Asia advisory under the wealth management division. Diederen is now based in Singapore and reports to Michael Benz, head of Asia Pacific wealth management, for the role. He was previously the chief executive of Asia private banking at ABN AMRO in Hong Kong.

London-headquartered Western Asset Management named Chia-Liang Lian as head of investment management in Asia, excluding Japan. Lian joined from Pimco, where he was in charge of the emerging Asia tams in Singapore. He remains in Singapore for his new role.

Singapore-based United Overseas Bank said it plans to grow its private banking arm to take advantage of the growing number of wealthy individuals in Singapore and the region. UOB, the city-state's third largest banking group by assets, intends to increase the number of its private bankers to about 200 by 2016 from more than 40 currently.

JP Morgan Private Bank appointed three executives for its India offshore team. Kiriti Chauhan stepped in as managing director, banker of the India offshore team based in Dubai. Chauhan is from Standard Chartered Bank, where he worked for the last 20 years, most recently as head of origination and client coverage for wholesale banking in Qatar. Nisar Sindhi joined as executive director, banker of the India offshore team. He previously managed the ultra high net worth and high net worth business of Citibank's wealth management unit in Dubai. Deepak Saluja joined as executive director, banker of the India offshore team based in Singapore. Saluja joined from Credit Suisse India, where he was part of the founding and senior leadership team for the wealth management group. 

HSBC Global Asset Management promoted Bill Maldonado to chief investment officer, Asia Pacific, a Hong Kong-based role months after relocating Chris Meares, chief executive of the private bank. For his new role, Maldonado will relocate from London to Hong Kong in August and will continue to report to global chief investment officer Chris Cheetham. Locally, he reports to Joanna Munro, chief executive of Asia Pacific.

Aviva Investors named Beng Eu Lim as head of institutional business development for Asia Pacific. Lim joins from Turner Investments where he led investment management efforts. He will be based in Singapore reporting to both Erich Gerth, the chief executive for global business development, and Tahnoon Pasha, the CEO for Singapore. 

MLC & NAB Wealth added three members to its retirement solutions unit. Paul Stratton, Michael Tobin, and Remi Bouchenez was promoted to AXA's North division reporting to Andrew Barnett who himself joined from AXA early in the year. Stratton was the head of platform development and is now the head of product operations. Tobin, previously the head of product development, is now the head of product development for MLC, while Bouchenez, formerly the risk manager for structured solutions, is now head of financial risk management.

Bank of Singapore hired Richard Jerram as chief economist from Macquarie. He will work closely with Hou Wey Fook, chief investment officer. Jerram was previously head of Asian economics for Macquarie Capital Securities. Also BoS named Koh Siew Kim as an investment counsellor. She joins from HSBC Private Bank where she was senior director of investment counselling in Hong Kong. 

JP Morgan appointed Steve Clayton as managing director and senior country officer for Malaysia. Clayton joins from Barclays Capital where he served as the chief executive for Malaysia for the last eight years. At JP Morgan, he will lead the company's overall franchise in the country and report to Todd Marin, the head of investment banking in Asia Pacific, the firm said in a statement. Clayton takes over from Clement Chew, who will be focusing on the bank's equity sales division. He remains based in Kuala Lumpur.

JP Morgan Private Wealth Management hired Mark Evans as managing director, market manager for expatriate clients in Asia and Salman Haider as managing director, market manager for Southeast Asia. Evans was previously managing director for expatriates in London for the Royal Bank of Canada and had also served for five years as head of global wealth management before that. Haider joined from Citibank's private client group, where he was the regional head covering high net worth client segments across 14 Asian markets. They both report to Peter Flavel, the chief executive of the bank's Asia private wealth arm. 

RBC Dexia Investor Services, named Noelle Tan as director of relationship management for Singapore. She will report to Diana Senanayake, RBC Dexia's managing director of Singapore. Tan joins from State Street, where she was in charge of key client relationships for its custody business in Southeast Asia.

Barclays Wealth hired Asha Mathen as a director for its Chennai office. She was previously a vice president at the Indian private wealth management division of German lender Deutsche Bank.

Robeco, the Rotterdam-based investment management firm, named Tony Edwards as chief executive of its Asia Pacific division. Edwards joined from Neuberger Berman where he was head of Asia Pacific . He will take over from Frances Chang, the CEO for Greater China and South East Asia who retired in 30 June. He starts 1 September 2011.

HSBC appointed Elizabeth Lee, a 16-year veteran of the bank to a newly created position of head of Asian market banking and Chinese business strategy. Lee was most recently senior vice president and district executive, New York City region.

Bank of Guam named Amoretta Carlson as vice president of BG Wealth and Trust Departments. Carlson has been with Bank of Guam since 1983. She is joined by Ann Roth as vice president, and Mike San Nicolas and Alexandra Taitano as assistant vice presidents. The trio come from BG Wealth Management/Money Concepts. 

HSBC promoted Peter Wong as chairman of its subsidiary HSBC Bank China, to succeed Vincent Cheng who is retiring.

Wong, who joined HSBC in 2005, is currently HSBC's chief executive for the Asia Pacific region. He will continue this role as well as his new duties. He has around 30 years experience in banking. 

Veteran private banker Lionel Kwok joined HSBC from Standard Chartered Private Bank to lead its investment counseling unit in Asia.

Technology firm SRL Global appointed Yvonne Barker-Layton as its marketing and client services director. In her previous role, Barker-Layton worked as a consultant in the marketing and client services division of a Geneva-based asset and wealth management company.