HSBC, Standard Chartered name regional wealth heads

Jan 18, 2011

Ryan Gwee now heads up China for Standard Chartered Private Bank, while Mark Stadler will run the Middle East and North Africa for HSBC Private Banking.

UK banks Standard Chartered and HSBC have named new private banking chiefs for China and the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region, respectively.

Ryan Gwee will run China for Standard Chartered Private Bank, replacing Karen Chan, who left the firm in September. Reporting to Rajesh Malkani, head of the East region, Gwee moves to Shanghai from Hong Kong, where he was head of relationship management, key partnerships and Southeast Asia.

Having been with Standard Chartered for more than a decade, he has held several management positions in Hong Kong and Singapore.

Malkani says China is one of SCPB’s most important markets, with almost 500,000 high-net-worth individuals with close to $2.5 trillion in wealth. He says Gwee’s strong relationships with Chinese clients make him very well suited to help strengthen the firm’s position in that country.

Standard Chartered Private Bank has already said that it intends to increase its number of relationship managers to 750 by 2013, from some 450 now.

Meanwhile, Mark Stadler will take over as Dubai-based head of global private banking for Mena at HSBC Private Banking at the end of January. He is currently based in London as co-head of the financial institutions group in global banking, having joined HSBC in 2004.

Stadler will replace Pierre Pissaloux who has left the bank. HSBC could not provide any further information on Pissaloux's current whereabouts. An announcement about the financial institutions group will be made in due course, says an HSBC spokeswoman.

Stadler will report to Alexandre Zeller, regional chief executive for Europe, the Middle East and Africa for global private banking, and locally to Mohammad Al-Tuwaijri, regional head of global banking and markets and private banking.

Stadler has worked in both Asia and the UK and has developed strong relationships with major Mena-based financial institutions. Before joining HSBC, he ran the emerging markets financial institutions and public sector teams for ABN Amro, with responsibility for Asia, emerging Europe, Latin America and the Middle East.

The appointment comes amid a management reshuffle at HSBC Private Banking, with the recent retirement of Monica Wong from her job as head of Asia and the relocation of Chris Meares, CEO of global private banking, from London to Hong Kong.