HSBC Singapore appoints head of financial institutions group for S-E Asia as part of Asean push

HSBC Singapore has appointed Kanakanjan Ray as head of financial institutions group (FIG), South-east Asia - a newly created role in the Hong Kong-listed bank's global banking and markets division.

In his new Singapore-based role, Mr Ray will be responsible for driving the lender's coverage of financial institution clients across all South-east Asian markets - Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam - encompassing banks, brokers stock exchanges and insurance companies.

Mr Ray joined HSBC in 2004 and has since held senior roles across multiple markets, with a specific focus on relationship management, sales and client servicing of FIG clients.

He has been based in Singapore since 2014, where most recently he held the role of country head of FIG. Prior to joining HSBC, which has been present in Singapore since 1877, Mr Ray worked with ICICI Bank in Mumbai.

He graduated with a Master of Business Administration from the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta and has a Bachelor of Information Technology from Delhi University.

The appointment is part of HSBC Singapore's three-year country strategic plan - launched in 2018 - to further build its Asean credentials and regional coverage from Singapore.

The bank has made several key Asean appointments in its wholesale banking business over the last year, most recently appointing Mun Loong Choy to head of multinationals, South-east Asia within the global banking and markets division in February 2019.

It also increased its headcount in business banking by 30 last year to drive growth in SME (small and medium enterprise) lending.

HSBC Singapore plans to grow its headcount across the entire business by more than 10 per cent over the three-year period as part of its plan to increase market share.

"Kanak has played a crucial role in building our FIG client base in Singapore, and, with his many years of APAC (Asia-Pacific) experience, will be invaluable to our clients tapping the emerging opportunities in Asean," said Stephen Williams, head of global banking South-east Asia.