HSBC Securities Services has appointed Jitendra Somani and Edmond Ng to senior positions within its global custody line-up for the Asia-Pacific region.

Mr Somani, previously the head of HSBC Securities' transfer agency, will become head of global custody for Asia-Pacific, while Mr Ng is relocating from London, where he was Europe head of global custody, to become China head of global custody. Mr Somani replaces Tony Lewis, who was promoted to head the bank's global custody unit last year. Mr Ng's post, however, is a new one and is reflective of the company's commitment to grow in the Chinese market, it said in a statement.

"In Asia generally, we continue to see increased levels of interest in our global custody services from HSBC Group clients," said Mr Lewis. "We make commitments to group clients to provide access to our products and services through staff based in the location of our clients, wherever possible."

HSBC Securities globally has around $4.9 trillion in assets under custody and $2.7 trillion in assets under administration. It has 350 staff in the Asia-Pacific region alone, covering 18 markets.

The announcements follow a reorganisation that occurred within HSBC's Asia-Pacific sub-custody leadership last year, which saw Andrew Bastow taking over as head of HSBC Securities Australia, Shaik Ismail Hakim as senior custody manager in Hong Kong, and Peter Snodgrass as head of sub-custody and clearing in Japan.