The Bank of America board of directors has appointed Mukesh Ambani, chairman and managing director of India-based Reliance Industries, as a director. Ambani will stand for election at the 2011 BofA annual meeting of shareholders.

With the appointment of the first non-American citizen to its board, BofA says it is aiming to increase its global perspective.

Ambani has headed Reliance Industries since 2002, having joined the firm in 1981. It is India’s largest private enterprise, and was also the country’s first private sector company to make it into the Global Fortune 500.

He is also a member of the Indian prime minister's Council on Trade and Industry, a member of the Indo-US CEOs Forum, and the co-chair of the Japan-India Business Leader's Forum, and the India-Russia CEO Council.

It is increasingly the case that companies – large and small – are bolstering their resources and expertise covering the global marketplace, as it seen as necessary to go beyond the domestic.

A recent survey by Franklin Templeton Investments and SourceMedia revealed that 92 per cent of US advisors believe it will be essential to provide a global investment perspective for clients over the coming decade, due to a flattening world economy and growth in emerging markets.