The Asia-headquartered bank, which operates from jurisdictions including the DIFC, has made a number of appointments in the Gulf.

Bank of Singapore’s Dubai branch has hired six senior bankers in recent months for a range of client segments, the bank said yesterday.

Joiners include James Bowen, previously of Coutts in London, and John Gilmour, ex-Barclays Private Bank, and Bianca Yau, who like Bowen was previously at Coutts.

Bowen has 27 years’ experience of working for international banks.  

“The DIFC is a key hub for us and we believe hiring senior bankers who are culturally accretive to us is critical to our future success. James and John cover our important GCC and NRI segments and Bianca brings the expertise of a segment we are keen to tap into, that of the growing Greater China wealthy in the UAE,” Ranjit Khanna, Bank of Singapore’s head of private banking for the Middle East and Europe markets, said.

Bank of Singapore has also brought in Sanjeev Singh and Chirag Sheth from ICICI Bank in the DIFC, as well as Rachna Oswal who joined the team from Credit Suisse in DIFC. They also cover the GCC and NRI segment. 

Among other recent hires are those of former senior LGT figure Jibu George as its compliance head in the DIFC branch. In his previous job, George was chief risk and compliance officer for the Middle East business of LGT Private Bank, serving in that post from 2017.

In other regions, in April Bank of Singapore said Rickie Chan, its head of private banking for Greater China, had taken on the additional role of CEO of its Hong Kong branch. Chan took over the helm from Cindy Wong.

At the end of May, the bank, part of Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation, created an independent investment advisory council to enhance the bank’s chief investment office’s (CIO) research capabilities and develop insights for its clients.