HSBC Securities Services (HSS) has appointed Ritesh Singh to head regulatory and industry affairs for Asia-Pacific fund services.

In what is a new role, Singh will be responsible for liaising with regulatory and industry bodies across Asia, working on the development of markets, and tracking changes in the regulatory environment.

"We are seeing a lot of markets evolving across Asia with more market liberalisation," says Singh. ôThere is a move towards a more facilitative regulatory environment in many markets, with new products, asset classes as well as more cross-border penetration.ö

He points to Korea, for example, where a new capital market consolidation act will be introduced early next year. Hong Kong is currently exploring changes in the code for unit trusts and mutual funds. Taiwan is also seeing changes to its regulatory environment and, in India, changes are being implemented for insurance regulations.

Singh has relocated from India to Hong Kong to take up the role and now reports to Bill Scrimgeour, global head of regulatory and industry affairs, fund services.

He was previously head of institutional fund services at HSS in India and has now been replaced by Vinith Rao, former head of client relationship for custody and clearing at HSBC India.

ôAs a large player in the region, we think it is important to have a specific role to focus on these changes, to liaise with the regulators for the development of markets, share best practices, and be better prepared as a business with regard to the opportunities and challenges presented by the impending changes,ö Singh adds.

HSS provides global, regional and domestic securities services to corporate and institutional clients. As of June 30, it had assets under custody of $5.1 trillion and assets under administration of $3.3 trillion.