BSI North Asia chief Heer to retire in new year

Private bank BSI Asia's head of North Asia, Esther Heer, is retiring after a 30-year career in the industry. It comes as the firm awaits completion of its takeover by Brazilian investment bank BTG Pactual.
 
Heer, who joined BSI in late 2010 after a long spell at UK private bank Coutts, is to be replaced by Jonathan Lin (pictured below), who is currently BSI’s head of Greater China.
 
The news was announced yesterday by Hanspeter Brunner, chief executive of BSI Asia, who was unavailable for interview as AsianInvestor went to press.
 
Lin takes up the role at the start of next year and will work with Heer on a leadership transition. He joined BSI from BNP Paribas in 2012.
 
Heer was eventually lured to BSI from Coutts to follow in the footsteps of Brunner, who quit acrimoniously as Asia head of RBS Coutts to join BSI in 2009. Subsequently more than 70 staff from Coutts left and joined BSI after the Royal Bank of Scotland acquired over Coutts.
 
BSI Bank in Asia employs more than 350 people in the region, with about 80 in Hong Kong and 280 at its regional headquarters in Singapore. Heer was responsible for hiring in Hong Kong.
 
“It is to the great credit of Brunner and Heer that they managed to stabilise BSI after the huge inflow of personnel from Coutts,” one senior industry source told AsianInvestor.
 
“But it was hard for BSI to hire talent amid competition from bigger, more well established brands," he noted. "They did well to hire Jonathan Lin, who is very client-focused.