Bank of America Merrill Lynch hires Martin Siah to head Asia real estate investment banking and Singapore investment banking

BANK of America Merrill Lynch (BAML) has hired Martin Siah as head of Asia real estate investment banking and head of Singapore investment banking.

In a memo seen by The Business Times on Wednesday titled "Organizational update for Asia-Pacific Investment Banking", it said that Mr Siah will start in September and initially be based in Hong Kong.

A BAML spokeswoman declined to comment on the appointment.

The memo was from Jiro Seguchi, BAML head of Asia-Pacific global corporate and investment banking (GCIB), Jeff Horowitz, head of GCIB real estate, gaming and lodging, and Chris Gammons and Alex To, co-heads of Asia-Pacific investment banking.

Mr Siah will be responsible for the overall growth and strategy of the regional real estate and Singapore coverage efforts in partnership with the broader global corporate and investment banking platform, it said.

Mr Siah joins from Standard Chartered Bank, where he was most recently head of Greater China & South-east Asia commercial real estate and also led the commercial real estate equity & advisory practice. Before joining Standard Chartered Bank, he spent more than 10 years at UBS where he was head of real estate investment banking and head of South-east Asia corporate finance.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch Singapore employs close to 2,000 people. Its business here consists of corporate banking, global transactions services, global markets and investment banking.