London-listed Royal Bank of Scotland has appointed Sherry Liu from JP Morgan as chairman and chief executive officer of the bank in China.

Liu, previously chairman of China Financial Institutions at JP Morgan, will be responsible for overseeing and driving the bank’s business strategy in China and its various joint ventures.

The appointment demonstrates RBS’s “continuing focus on building our corporate and investment banking business both in and outside of China,” Asia-Pacific chairman John McCormick said.

Liu will report to McCormick and Matthew Kirkby, the bank’s regional head of global banking. She will also join the global banking Asia-Pacific management team.

The Asia-Pacific region is being targeted as a key area by Western banks, including their private wealth management divisions. The private banking arm of Royal Bank of Scotland has said it wants to double in size and bring its international unit into the centuries-old Coutts brand. Rory Tapner, RBS's wealth chief since last August, has embarked on a series of changes to the division that involves a push to win new clients in the Middle East, eastern Europe and Asia with the international private bank, currently called RBS Coutts, also to become branded just as Coutts.