HSBC announced in October the appointment of 11 senior bankers, six of whom are external hires, to strengthen the infrastructure and real estate group (IRG) in its global banking division, including in Asia-Pacific.

The new additions and appointments will accelerate HSBC’s ambition to be a leading bank in large-scale infrastructure initiatives across the globe, from increasing interest in renewable energy in markets transitioning to a low carbon economy, to China’s Belt and Road Initiative.

Helen Li joins as co-head of IRG for Asia-Pacific, working alongside James Cameron, also co-head of IRG for the region. To be based in Hong Kong, Li was previously with Bank of America Merrill Lynch, where she was head of power, utilities and infrastructure for Asia.

Christian Hepp was named global co-head of real estate, based in London. He joins from Jones Lang LaSalle, where he was head of M&A for Europe, Middle East and Africa.

Nicola Free was appointed a managing director in the IRG financing team, also based in London. She was formerly with AIG, where she was co-head of international origination in the commercial mortgage team.

Another hire based in London was Giulio Hoffman, who recently joined as managing director in the power, utilities and renewables team from Macquarie.

Sean Harvey also recently joined as a director in the real estate financing based in Sydney. He was previously with National Australia Bank, where he was head of property and development finance.

Another appointee based in London was Nikolay Iankov, who joined as director in the IRG financing team from Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

The other appointments to IRG from within HSBC were Olivier Gibert, who was named global head of infrastructure, and Kara Wang, who was appointed global co-head of real estate. Gibert was previously head of transport services and infrastructure for Asia-Pacific, while Wang was most recently a managing director in the real estate team and is based in Hong Kong.

Robert Todd was appointed global head of power, utilities and renewables. He was previously head of renewables and cleantech. Chris Hignell was named head of infrastructure and transport services and logistics for Asia-Pacific. He moves from advisory and is based in Japan. Alex Thomas was named director in IRG. He was previously an M&A banker and is based in London.

Over in Malaysia, two of the country’s biggest banks have announced senior management appointments. CIMB has received Bank Negara Malaysia’s approval for Mohd Nasir Ahmad to be appointed as group chairman, succeeding Nazir Razak, who stepped down on October 19.

At Maybank, Datin Ami Moris has been appointed CEO of Maybank Kim Eng Group (MKE) with responsibility for overseeing all of the investment banking, brokerage and derivatives businesses in Malaysia and across MKE’s regional platform. Fad’l Mohamed was named CEO of Maybank Investment Bank, the Malaysian entity of MKE.

Both Moris and Mohamed succeeded John Chong, who has assumed the position of group CEO for community financial services of Maybank.