ING Bank nabs Briones as Thailand country head

Stephen Briones has been appointed ING's new country head for Thailand and will also be responsible for managing and developing its wholesale banking client coverage activities in the country.

Briones moves to ING Bank from Devonshire Capital Group, where he spearheaded the origination and execution of transactions in South East Asia and India. Joining Devonshire in 2002, Briones was also a member of the team that assisted the firm in creating an investment banking joint venture with the Thai-based Kiatnakin Finance Group.

Before moving to Devonshire, Briones was employed in Thailand by Morgan Stanley Real Estate Funds. He was also CFO of a Bangkok-based internet advisory group, Web Advisory Company and has worked in corporate finance at Jardine Fleming, where he was a vice president.

His move to the Dutch group marks a return for Briones, who worked for ING Barings between 1995 and 1998 in equity research and corporate finance.

In total, Briones bestows 14 years of expertise in the investment banking and relationship management arena to ING, with ten spent working in Asia.

In the new role, Briones will report to John Howland-Jackson, head of wholesale relationship management, Asia and to David Hudson, CEO of ING Bank, Asia.

Commenting on Briones' appointment, Howland-Jackson states, "Our strategy is to bring ING's core expertise of debt-financing and advisory products and services to our most important clients and Briones brings a huge amount of experience to the role."