Lowenhaupt Global Advisors Australia, a family office, named Sean Cortis as chief executive officer. Cortis used to be the chief operating officer of LGA Australia and has 25 years of wealth management experience behind him.

Citigroup appointed former UBS executive Jeff Emmanuel to lead its Asia-Pacific financial institutions group as managing director, and the Australia and New Zealand global banking unit as vice chairman. Emmanuel previously served as managing director at UBS' financial institutions group in Hong Kong.

Zurich Financial Services Australia appointed Scott Watters as chief information officer. Watters takes over from Bobby Lehane, who was recently promoted to chief operating officer for the company's Asia-Pacific general insurance division. Prior to joining Zurich Australia in 2008, he served as head of fixed income, currency, and commodities technology at Citi.

Threadneedle appointed three new senior sales directors as part of the asset management firm’s global expansion plans. Gerard Clancy, Richmond Herrera and Kent Ng will work with global private banks in Asia, as well as local financial institutions. They report to Michael Langlois, head of wholesale distribution in Asia Pacific. Clancy, based in Singapore, joins from BlackRock; Herrera, previously worked for Standard Chartered, and Ng, based in Hong Kong, previously worked at Merrill Lynch Global Wealth Management.

Swiss private bank Clariden Leu strengthened its Greater China presence with four appointments: Harvey Li, Cassandra Chen, Leanna Chan, and Connie Chan.

Kenneth Kwok left Deutsche Bank to join UBS. He will report to Alex Wilmot-Sitwell and Chi-Won Yoon, who share the chairman and chief executive role for Asia-Pacific.

Barclays Wealth named Pakorn Boonyakurkul as managing director and head of North Asia. Boonyakurkul most recently served as managing director at HSBC Private Bank.

Royal Bank of Scotland appointed Sherry Liu from JP Morgan as chairman and chief executive officer of the bank in China. Liu, previously chairman of China Financial Institutions at JP Morgan, is responsible for overseeing and driving the bank’s business strategy in China and its various joint ventures.

DB Private Equity, the private equity investment management unit of Deutsche Bank, made a number of appointments. Head of the North Asia business is now Dongbai Wang, who came from Adams Street Partners in Singapore. Wang works alongside Alexis von Dziembowski, who was recently appointed to head the South and South East Asia coverage. The team is led by Peter Pfister, who has covered the Asia Pacific region since 2005.

Barclays Wealth appointed Pakorn Boonyakurkul as managing director, head of North Asia joining HSBC Private Bank. Boonyakurkul leads the bankers based in Hong Kong, focusing on the wealth management business across Greater China and North Asia.

Equity Trust appointed Johnson Har as regional sales and marketing executive for Custom House, its fund services arm based in Hong Kong. Har held several roles specialising in funds for the past four years and most recently served as analyst for the Newedge Group, also in Hong Kong.

Baring Asset Management hired Thomas Kwan to lead its Asian debt investments unit. Kwan joined from ICBC Credit Suisse, where he handled global macro research and asset allocation strategies.

The Royal Bank of Scotland hired Sherry Liu as chairman and chief executive officer of RBS in China. Liu joined from JP Morgan Chase, where she was chairman for China financial institutions and vice chairman for China.

The Royal Bank of Scotland Group named Devesh Kumar to the newly created role of head of equities for India. Kumar brings over 20 years of banking experience to this new post, having worked for the likes of ICICI Securities, ABN Amro, Daewoo Finance India, and Unit Trust of India.

Morgan Stanley opened a private wealth management branch in Chennai, its second location in South India. Previously, the firm’s PWM business in Chennai has been managed from Bangalore.

HSBC Private Bank brought in two senior executives for its Asian business. Heading the South Asia investment group of the private bank is William Lawton, who brings more than 20 years of investment experience to the role. Hepreviously worked at various companies in London, New York, Switzerland, and Singapore, including RBS Coutts and Standard Chartered Bank. It also hired Jeffrey Benjamin, named managing director of the international private wealth team, responsible for relationship management functions for non-Asian resident clients. Prior to this position, he spent 11 years at Investec in London and has also served at Merrill Lynch and Credit Suisse in Singapore before that.

RBS Coutts appointed the head of its newly created advisory group for family businesses and related matters in Asia. Dr Roger Low was named as head of the Coutts Institute in Asia. The Coutts Institute assists and advises clients on family business, philanthropy and next-generation matters. Dr Low spent close to 20 years working in family businesses. Prior to joining Coutts, he taught Family Business and Entrepreneurial Management at the Singapore Management University.

Belinda Lee, meanwhile joined the bank as head of strategy, Asia, based in Hong Kong. She was previously head of strategy, Asia Pacific at UBS, having spent five years in the group strategy function.