Bank of America Merrill Lynch has made five senior appointments to its Asia Pacific commodities team as part of its growth plans across key sectors in the region.

First among the hires is that of Peter Beaumont, who joins as managing director and head of metals and mining sales and origination for the Asia Pacific region. Based in Sydney, Mr Beaumont will report locally to Diego Parrilla, head of commodities Asia Pacific, and to Amrik Sandhu, global head of metals in London.

Mr Beaumont’s prior career includes a four-year spell at ABN AMRO Australia as executive director of structured finance, and 10 years as global head of metals sales and trading at UBS in London, New York, and Sydney.

Secondly is Paul Wright, who has been appointed director of commodities, oil and gas origination for Asia Pacific. Mr Wright – who previously spent 13 years at Chevron – will be based in Singapore in his new role. He reports locally to Mr Parrilla, along with Brad Blesie, head of EMEA origination and structuring, and Mitch Rubinstein, head of global crude and refined products in London.

Thirdly, John Bao Vu joins as director and head of complex options trading in the Asia Pacific region. Mr Vu will be based in Hong Kong, reporting locally to Mr Parrilla and to Ken Merideth, co-head of global commodity index & products in Houston. Mr Vu joins from Deutsche Bank where he was a director in the commodities team based in Hong Kong.

Next, Prakash Shah has been appointed director and head of India commodity solutions - a Mumbai-based role in which he will report to Mr Parrilla. Mr Shah rejoins Bank of America Merrill Lynch Commodities from RBS-Sempra, where he spent the last year as part of the commodity sales and trading group in Mumbai. He had previously spent three years trading metals at Merrill Lynch Commodities Singapore.

In the last of the hires, Celina Zhang takes up the role of director, commodity solutions for Greater China; she joins from Goldman Sachs in Singapore, where she was an executive director of commodity markets, focusing on energy corporate clients across Greater China. In her new role Ms Zhang will be based in Singapore, also reporting to Mr Parrilla.

“Asia Pacific is core to our growth strategy for the platform and we believe these additions to the team will enhance our client facing capability, investor products, metals, coal, crude and products businesses,” said David Goodman and Rob Jones, co-heads of global commodities.

Mr Shah and Ms Zhang will join the company in September, whereas Messrs Beaumont and Wright are already in role. Mr Vu’s starting date will be announced shortly, Bank of America Merrill Lynch said in a statement.