RBS upgrades Asian investment banking with key appointments

Appointments of 4 RBS high calibre heads aimed to provide world class banking in region.

The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) plc announced the appointment of Viral Gathani as Head of Energy & Resources, Asia and Wu Gang as Co-Head of Global Industrials Group (GIG) for Asia. Both will be based in Hong Kong and report to Meighen Robertson, Head of Sectors, Asia, according to an RBS report.

RBS is also pleased to announce that Raghu Narain, previously Head of Transportation, Infrastructure & Gaming, Asia, will take up responsibility as Co-Head of GIG with Wu Gang. In addition Lani Frew, currently Co-Head, Infrastructure, Utilities & Energy for Australia is promoted to cover the Power & Utilities sector for Asia.

Commenting on the appointments, John Mullins, Regional Head of Banking said: "RBS has been investing heavily in many areas of its Banking business with a number of high profile hires across countries, sectors and products. With these latest senior sector appointments, we have enhanced our investment banking capabilities even further, which demonstrates our deep commitment to providing world class banking services to our clients in Asia Pacific."

Mr. Gathani will be responsible for driving growth for the bank's Energy & Resources sector across debt, equity and advisory products throughout the region. He brings over 16 years experience in investment banking and private equity, of which 13 years are in the region. Prior to joining RBS, Mr. Gathani worked for private equity firm Warburg Pincus in Hong Kong where he helped build a regional portfolio for the company with an emphasis on natural resource and industrial sector investments.

Mr. Wu will be jointly responsible for building the bank's Asian Global Industrials Group sector capability in tandem with Co-Head, Raghu Narain. Mr. Wu worked previously at HSBC in London and Hong Kong where he was a Managing Director in the Cross Border Advisory Group focusing on originating and facilitating both inbound and outbound cross border M&A transactions with Asia (in particular China) across different industry sectors. Prior to this, Mr. Wu has held senior positions in Merrill Lynch and ABN AMRO.

Mr. Narain was hired by RBS from Bank of America in 2008 to head Transportation, Infrastructure and Gaming in Asia and has led important transactions for RBS in those sectors. Mr. Narain brings 12 years of experience in investment banking and finance, in North America and Asia.

Ms. Frew will lead the regional Power & Utilities team, reporting to Mr. Gathani. Ms. Frew has over 14 years experience in the Power & Utilities and Oil & Gas sectors and has worked on numerous transactions in Asia in recent years. She has held senior roles in principal investment, client coverage and project finance at Commonwealth Bank of Australia and in investment banking at RBS. Ms. Frew will continue to be Co-Head of Infrastructure, Utilities & Energy for Investment Banking in Australia.

Meighen Robertson commented, "I am delighted to be bringing high calibre talent like Viral and Wu Gang to the team and to be promoting Raghu and Lani into expanded roles. With these appointments and the promotions announced today (May 25), we have in place the senior sector expertise we need in Asia. We are very excited about what this will enable us to bring to our clients."