HSBC has appointed Kanakanjan Ray to head of Financial Institutions Group (FIG), Southeast Asia, a newly created role in the bank’s Global Banking and Markets (GBM) division. The appointment further reinforces the bank’s position as a wholesale hub to the ASEAN region.

In his new role, Ray will be responsible for driving the bank’s coverage of financial institution clients across all Southeast Asian markets (namely Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam) encompassing banks, brokers, stock exchanges and insurance companies.

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. Ray initially joined HSBC India’s Securities Services before relocating to Hong Kong in 2008 where he eventually held the position of director, global banking, covering international banks and brokers in the Asia-Pacific. Ray has been based in Singapore since 2014, where most recently he held the role of country head of FIG.

Prior to joining HSBC, Ray worked with ICICI Bank in Mumbai. Ray graduated with a Master of Business Administration from the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta and has a Bachelor of Information Technology from Delhi University.

Ray will continue to be based in Singapore.

Commenting on the appointment, Stephen Williams, head of global banking Southeast Asia, says: “Kanak has played a crucial role in building our FIG client base in Singapore, and, with his many years of APAC experience, will be invaluable to our clients tapping the emerging opportunities in ASEAN.”

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. HSBC Singapore 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, Southeast Asia within the GBM division in February 2019.

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