Royal Bank of Scotland has strengthened its South East Asian international banking business with a new appointment.

Brijesh Mehra, current head of international banking for India, expands his role to include South East Asian countries Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand. The unit covers debt financing, risk management and transaction services. He remains based in Mumbai.

In addition, the bank named Charly Madan as head of capital and portfolio management in Asia-Pacific. Madan has been with the company since December 2012. Prior to that, he worked for Bank of Ayudhya as corporate banking head.

Both assume their roles with immediate effect, reporting to Madan Menon, co-head of markets and international banking in Asia-Pacific. The appointments come as RBS continues to focus on its core strengths in the country, namely asset-backed products, foreign exchange and debt capital markets. In June, the bank named former Citi Philippines head Sanjiv Vohra to lead its India arm. 

A few days ago, the wealth arm of Royal Bank of Scotland – including Coutts, the private bank reported an operating profit before impairments in the six months to 30 June of £119 million ($179.9 million), down from £126 million in the same period a year ago. Separately, RBS announced the new chief executive to take over the helm from Stephen Hester, who is stepping down.