SINGAPORE – Swiss lender Credit Suisse on Thursday announced that it has hired Singaporean private banker Kwong Kin Mun as its new vice-chairman for South-east Asia wealth management.

Its head of wealth management in Asia-Pacific, Mr Benjamin Cavalli, said in a memo to staff and stakeholders that Mr Kwong will start in this role from Monday, be based in Singapore and report to him.

Mr Kwong is stepping in to fill the role left by Ms Jullie Kan, the former vice-chairman for South-east Asia. She was promoted to vice-chairman for Asia-Pacific on March 6.

The move comes at a time when Credit Suisse is to be bought by rival UBS for 3 billion Swiss francs (S$4.3 billion) in a deal engineered by the Swiss authorities to avoid a further shake-up in global banking.

In the past 20 years, Mr Kwong has held leadership positions, including most recently as Deutsche Bank’s head of wealth management for South-east Asia and as head of South Asia at DBS private banking.

Before these, he was with Citibank, UBS, Standard Chartered Bank and Merrill Lynch.

In 2017, Mr Kwong was awarded the Singapore IBF Fellowship in recognition of his contributions to the private banking industry and was a member of the Private Banking Industry Group Committee for many years.

On his appointment, Mr Kwong said: “The sparks from the merger of two global leaders in wealth management will create enormous potential for clients and private bankers. With questions on financial security out of the way, I look forward to working with a dedicated and experienced team of bankers to stabilise and grow the business as we move towards integration.”

UBS has said that its business in the Asia-Pacific region, specifically Hong Kong, Singapore and China, will now be complemented by Credit Suisse’s South-east Asia operations.