HSBC Private Bank hires senior duo in Asia

HSBC Private Bank has made two senior appointments in Asia, both at managing director level.

The firm hired William Lawton as head of the private bank's South Asia Investment Group, where he is responsible for delivering investment solutions and services to clients across the region.

It has also brought in Jeffrey Benjamin as an MD in the International Private Wealth team to oversee relationship management for non-Asian resident clients.

HSBC PB did not disclose the arrival date for either hire. 

The additions come after HSBC Private Bank lost two senior staff in the region. Pakorn Boonyakurkul quit after eight years with the firm to join Barclays Wealth as its new head of North Asia. He had overseen 200 staff at HSBC PB, taking care of onshore business in Japan and Taiwan, and offshore business in the Philippines, as well as non-resident Indians.

Separately, AsianInvestor revealed that Carole Cheung, a managing director with a Philippines focus and a former colleague of Boonyakurkul’s, had also quit. She is widely expected to join Barclays Wealth soon, although the bank has declined to comment.

A spokeswoman for HSBC Private Bank confirmed only that Boonyakurkul and Cheung had left, but offered no information on whether they had been replaced.

Nancie Dupier, chief executive of HSBC Private Bank for Southeast Asia, confirmed in a statement that 75% of net inflows into the group's global private banking business in 2010 originated from Asia.

"We serve an international base of customers in Asia who have diverse investment needs," she noted in the statement. "William and Jeffrey will strengthen our client-focused approach to help connect customers to global investment opportunities."

Lawton brings over 20 years of experience in investments spanning London, New York, Switzerland and Singapore with several institutions including RBS Coutts and Standard Chartered Bank.

Benjamin had spent the previous 11 years at Investec PLC in London, before which he had worked for Merrill Lynch and Credit Suisse in Singapore.