9 January 2019

Private Banking rings in new year with senior appointments

HSBC Private Banking in Singapore announces several key appointments for its Investment Services and Product Solutions (ISPS) team. Significantly, this includes two newly created roles: Chief Market Strategist, Southeast Asia (SEA) and Head of Global Solutions Group (GSG), SEA.

New additions to the ISPS team in Singapore include:

  • James Cheo, Chief Market Strategist, SEA, HSBC Private Banking
    James re-joins the HSBC investment advisory team and brings more than 15 years’ portfolio strategy, asset allocation and economic research experience with international banks as an investment strategist, including five years with MAS as a Senior Economist. As a seasoned investment strategist with extensive experience conducting macro analysis, he is responsible for thought leadership on investment strategy and asset allocation for private banking clients in SEA.

    He is also a member of the Global Investment Committee (GIC) and Asia Regional Investment Committee, working closely with the GIC Sub-Committees to develop global and regional investment and High Conviction Themes. James will report locally to Kenneth Yeo, Head of SEA, ISPS and functionally to Cheuk Wan Fan, Chief Market Strategist, Asia.
  • Rowan Tan, Head of Global Solutions Group (GSG), SEA, ISPS, HSBC Private Banking
    Rowan joins with more than 10 years of investment banking (M&A and Equity Capital Markets) along with corporate finance advisory experience to high net worth clients with international banks. These areas of expertise are an ideal pairing as he is responsible for deepening collaboration and connectivity between HSBC Singapore’s Private and Corporate Banking businesses.

    HSBC’s global GSG team has two areas of focus: origination and distribution. Origination is offering expertise in advisory, financing and capital raising services to private banking clients, and distribution to provide bespoke investment opportunities for clients looking to deploy capital. Rowan will report locally to Kenneth Yeo, Head of ISPS, SEA and functionally to Ken Tsang in Head of GSG, Asia Pacific.
  • Ishan Sarkar, Head of Structured Products, SEA, ISPS, HSBC Private Banking
    Ishan joins with 12 years’ of industry experience with international banks. He is responsible for delivering equity derivatives, commodities, credits and rates structured products to clients. Ishan replaces Wendy Ang, who has since relocated to Hong Kong with HSBC. Ishan will report locally to Kenneth Yeo, Head of ISPS, SEA and functionally to Adam Lau, Head of Equities and Structured Products, Asia Pacific.
  • All appointments are effective immediately. 

Commenting on the appointments

Kenneth Yeo, Head of ISPS, SEA, HSBC Private Banking said: “The HSBC calling card has been very attractive in welcoming talent. Prospective employees understand our commitment to the region and our expansion plans for the next five years.”

He continues to explain, “It’s a pleasure to welcome back high calibre HSBC alumni talent like James who will be instrumental in delivering our investment strategy capabilities to clients and new talent, like Rowan, with a great blend of investment banking and high net worth client advisory expertise. The establishment of our GSG team lead strengthens our position to support our ultra-high net worth clients who are looking to take their businesses to the next level but need to access more sophisticated investment banking capabilities.” 

HSBC Singapore continues plan to capture Asian wealth

In September 2018, HSBC Singapore unveiled its plan to grow the combined market share of its retail and private banking business by increasing its customer-facing headcount and total wealth over the next five years. The bank will focus on high net worth individuals from across Singapore and abroad.

HSBC Singapore’s Retail Banking and Wealth Management (RBWM) business will target individuals with USD1-5 million in investible assets.  While its Private Banking arm will target individuals with more than USD5 million, in particular the ultra-high net worth segment with USD100 million or more in investible assets.

About the ISPS team

The ISPS team includes Investment Counsellors (IC) and Product Specialists responsible for providing sophisticated financial advisory to high net worth clients with more than USD5mn in investible assets. All HSBC Private Banking clients have direct access to a dedicated Relationship Manager and IC.


1 Global Investment Committee: Chaired by Chaired by the Chief Market Strategist Willem Sels, the committee comprises senior investment professionals from our offices in London, Geneva, Hong Kong, Singapore, New York, Miami and other key locations around the world. The committee meets each month to discuss the economic outlook and market trends in order to determine the Private Bank’s asset class views, typically with a 6 months horizon. These views form the basis for asset allocation recommendations to clients and changes to our advisory model portfolios. Before the monthly GIC meeting, product specialists and investment strategists meet in sub-committees to discuss each asset class in depth and suggest views to the committee.


Note to editors

About HSBC Private Banking
As part of the HSBC Group, one of the world’s largest banking and financial services organisations, HSBC Private Banking seeks to be the leading international private bank for business owners and their families. It provides clients with wealth, business and family succession solutions in the largest and fastest growing markets around the world. HSBC Private Bank is the marketing name for the private banking business conducted by the principal private banking subsidiaries of the HSBC Group. For more information, visit www.privatebanking.hsbc.com