HSBC names new head for commercial banking in Singapore

Willie Tham, currently the Chief Executive Officer of HSBC in Thailand, will assume the post effective January 2011.

Tham takes up his role after three years as Chief Executive Officer in Thailand. He succeeds Tan Siew Meng, who will join HSBC in Mauritius as Chief Executive Officer.

Chief Executive Officer of HSBC in Singapore Alex Hungate said: “HSBC is a leading bank in Singapore with a long history of helping our Commercial Banking customers to grow and expand internationally. In the first six months of 2010, HSBC earned US$264 million of profit before tax, with Commercial Banking contributing US$42 million. I look
forward to Willie coming to lead HSBC’s Commercial Banking business in Singapore. His extensive international experience will help to ensure that HSBC’s customers in Singapore make the most of business opportunities across the world.

Tham joined HSBC as an International Manager in London in 1985 and has served in a variety of roles in his home country of Malaysia as well as in mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, Qatar, the United Kingdom and the United States.

In 2001, he became Area Manager for Kuala Lumpur at HSBC Bank Malaysia Berhad with overall responsibility for the bank’s consumer and corporate banking business in the Kuala Lumpur region. He was appointed Chief Operating Officer of HSBC China in November 2004, where he helped establish the infrastructure for the bank’s current rapid expansion in that country, before taking up his role in Thailand.

Tham is the Chairman of the Association of International Banks and the Vice Chairman of the British Chamber of Commerce in Thailand. He graduated with First Class Honours from Imperial College, London where he read Civil Engineering.