HSBC revealed plans to cut about 3,000 jobs over the next three years in Hong Kong, or 13 per cent of its staff in the city, as part of global efforts to reduce costs and boost profitability. The London-based bank aims to become more efficient and will redeploy people whenever possible.

Hang Seng Bank, the Hong Kong-based bank owned by HSBC Group, appointed Nixon Chan Lik-Sang as head of retail banking and wealth management to replace William Leung Wing-Cheung, who resigned. Leung was previously head of personal banking.

Dillon Eustace, a Dublin-based legal investment funds advisory firm, opened a new office in Hong Kong. Partner Paul Moloney will head up the new venture, moving to Hong Kong from the corporate and taxation departments of Dillon Eustace.

UBS announced five senior hires for its Asian high net worth division, bringing its total recruited for July and August alone to 100 people. The five hires include Stephen Lam, who is now country team head of the Taiwan international HNW unit, and Seigo Yoshida. Lam joined from Citibank, where he was managing director for Thailand, Taiwan and Indonesia; Yoshida joined from Nomura Holdings, where he most recently served as deputy branch manager for the Osaka branch. Jourdan Gozali joined as the desk head for wealth management in Singapore from OCBC and HSBC, where he was part of the Indonesia private banking team. Alun Branigan joined as head of the corporate advisory group for Singapore and Daniel Harel joined as head of the UHNW unit for South Asia. Branigan previously ran his own consultancy business. David Hayward-Evans, previously a manager for health financing group Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria, is now the head of philanthropy and values-based investing Asia-Pacific and family services in Singapore.

 Citi appointed Gary Kuo as managing director and vice chairman of Asia global banking.  Kuo joined from Barclays, where he was co-head of the China investment banking business.

Bendigo Wealth, the Australian financial services firm, added three senior members to its distribution team. Diego Del Rosso joined as senior manager for strategic partners and alliances from OnePath Australia, where he was the national sales manager for employer superannuation.

Catherine Robson, an 11-year veteran of National Australia Bank left to start her own boutique financial planning firm, Affinity Private. Robson will open the doors of the Victoria-based firm in October, providing strategic wealth advisory services to private client.

Northern Trust, the US investment manager and custodian, named a new managing director for its Australia and New Zealand business, along with a new country head for the Channel Islands. Rohan Singh was appointed managing director for Northern Trust in Australia and New Zealand. Singh replaced Paul Cutts, who is transferring to the role of country head for the Channel Islands, based in Guernsey. Both appointments are effective from 1 November 2011.

London-listed First State Investments appointed Mario Maia as a senior analyst covering the soft commodities sector to the group’s nine-strong global resources team based in Sydney. Maia joins from Merrill Lynch Australia .

Manulife Asset Management announced a quartet of key appointments to its fixed income, equity, sales and compliance teams in Singapore. Khim Hau Ng was named senior director for fixed income, having joined from AXA Investment Management Asia Pacific. Lisa Yong was named senior director for equities, having worked at Lion Global Investors, Allianz Global Investors and Deutsche Asset Management in Asia. Vincent Teo joined the newly-created role of head of wholesale sales, from AIA. Keith Cheang joined as head of compliance, from Wellington International Management Company where he was associate director for the legal and compliance team.

RBC Wealth Management, part of Royal Bank of Canada, continued its emerging markets push with two senior hires based in Singapore. Li Li Seah joined as vice president of risk management and Leslie Glass as head of human resources. Seah joined from RBS Coutts Asia, where she was regional head of credit risk. Glass was latterly at ABN AMRO.

Deutsche Bank announced two senior appointments for its direct securities services business in the Asia Pacific region. Mrugank Paranjape, previously based in the UK as managing director of direct securities services was promoted to become head of the division for Asia Pacific. Joseph Barnes, previously a managing director for securities services based in India, is now head of direct securities services sales and relationship management, Asia Pacific. He has been with Deutsche for 13 years.

JP Morgan Treasury Services strengthened its Southeast Asia team with the appointment of three executives, two of which are from US rival Citi. Abdul Latiff was promoted to head of treasury services, while Hooi Ching Wong joined from Citi Malaysia as head of TS for Malaysia. Also from Citi isNadia Schiavon who becomes head of TS for Australia and New Zealand.

Citi hired Deutsche Bank executive David Murphy as managing director and head of prime finance in Asia Pacific. Murphy was previously the head of prime finance for Deutsche and was instrumental to the division's growth in Asia over the last two years.

RBC Wealth Management named Samir Dewan as chief operating officer and head of business development for the emerging markets, a Singapore-based role. Dewan reports to Barend Janssens, the Canadian bank’s head of emerging markets, and Ingrid Versnel, global head of operations and technology. Dewan will also join the operating committee for RBC Wealth Management Emerging Markets.

Australia and New Zealand Banking Group appointed Kiseok Kim as chief executive for Korea. Kim previously served as managing director, branch manager and head of global markets for Korea at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. He took over from HJ Kim, who is believed to be pursuing other interests. 

Citi Private Bank named fashion business high-flyer Ida Liu as managing director of the newly-created North America Asia clients group. Liu was a senior private banker at Citi's New York office and manages soe $1.8 billion in investment assets for clients. Before Citi, she was the global head of sales, marketing, public relations and business development at Vivienne Tam, the international fashion house, and managed European designer collections at Bergdorf Goodman.

Barclays Wealth added to its advisory and investment team in North Asia with two senior appointments. Chi Lee joined as director, head of active advisory and investment solutions for North Asia, while Fabian Neo joined as head of FX advisory, Asia. Lee previously was the head of the Bank of Montreal's private banking unit in Hong Kong. Neo was the regional head of North Asia advisory for Credit Suisse. 

Manulife Singapore established a wealth management business in Singapore made a trio of appointments to spearhead the unit. Kwok Keng Han transfered from Allianz Global Investors Singapore to become the wealth arm's senior vice president and chief of wealth management. Hitesh Shah, from Prudential Assurance Singapore, joined as senior vice president and chief marketing officer, while Goh Lee Kian was named senior vice president and chief human resources officer. 

PricewaterhouseCoopers, the accountant, expanded its Hong Kong operations with three senior appointments. Now part of the firm as its newest partners are Tony Evangelista, Carlyon Knight-Evans and Angelica Kwan. PwC said it intends to double its asset management team to 24 partners and more than 250 staff over the next five years.

ClearView Wealth, the Australian financial services company, announced the addition of Sydney-based financial planner Ron Lambert and his team Lambert Investments as partners. Lambert offers financial advice to some 6,000 clients with some A$100 million (around $99.7 million) funds under administration.

Deutsche Bank Asset Management appointed Leslie Chua as head of research and strategy for Asia-Pacific, excluding Japan and Korea, for its RREEF Real Estate, real estate investment management business. Chua joined from Pacific Star Holdings where he was head of research and strategic planning. 

UBS named Edmund Kian-Chew Koh as country head and chief executive for wealth management in Singapore. Koh assumes his new role in early 2012 and takes over from Gerald Chan and Christine Ong. Chan is joining the FICC while Ong is on an extended leave of absence and will not return to the bank until early next year to take a new leadership post.

Christie's, the international auctioneer appointed Sam Hines as head of watches for Asia based in Hong Kong, to take effect in 2012.

Tokio Marine Life Insurance Malaysia named Toi See Jong as chief executive officer with immediate effect. Toi previously served as managing director at Prudential Assurance in Singapore. He replaced Kenneth Wong.

BNP Paribas, the French banking group, appointed Laurent Couraudon as the new country head for China effective 1 October. Couraudon took over from Francois Cristofari who has retired. He is now based in Beijing.

BlackRock, the investment management and advisory firm, named Joel Kim as head of Asia-Pacific fixed income based in Singapore. Kim was previously at ING Investment Management, where he led the fixed income team for Asia. 

Commonwealth Bank of Australia announced that Ian Narev was to assume the chief executive role effective 1 October, replacing Ralph Norris who has retired. Grahame Peterson, the head of the group's wealth management unit, was also promoted to group executive for business and private banking. Also appointed was Annabel Spring as group executive for wealth management effective 1 October. Spring was previously the group head of strategy. Her old position was to be occupied by Robert Jesudason, who joined the company from Credit Suisse where he was a managing director and head of global emerging markets. Jesudason begins at his new role in December this year. 

Prudential Real Estate Investors, the real estate asset management arm of Prudential Financial, made five senior appointments for Pramerica Real Estate Investors (Asia), its Singapore-based Asian arm. Koichiro Maeda was named managing director and portfolio manager for Prudential Real Estate Japan, Benett Theseira became managing director for Southeast Asia, while Taeyun Won was made managing director for investments and client management in Korea. For the Hong Kong office, Henry Chin was appointed head of Asia-Pacific research and strategy and Joyce Lo was appointed senior vice president. In a statement, the company said the hires were in response to increasing growth opportunities in the region and support plans to expand. 

HSBC named Diana Cesar as head of the wealth management division based in Hong Kong. Cesar was previously the head of marketing and communications for the Asia-Pacific at the bank. At her new role, she is responsible for the retail banking and wealth management business, as well as marketing, in Hong Kong.