Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi (BTMU) has appointed Ken Stratton as its first general manager and regional head of transaction banking sales, Asia transaction banking office.

In this new position, Stratton will supervise the bank’s transaction banking business, including cash management and trade finance across 12 markets within the Asia and Oceania region.

He will be responsible for developing and setting the strategic direction for the Asia and Oceania region’s transaction banking business, deepening existing client relationships, and driving new client growth across a broad sector comprising multinational and large local corporates and financial institutions.

Commenting on the appointment, Go Watanabe, CEO for Asia & Oceania, says: “In order to diversify our revenue sources, the key area of focus for BTMU in the next three years is to grow our global corporate business. Hence, we are now placing a lot of emphasis on building up our transaction banking business so as to better capture more sizeable commerce and trade flows in this region.”

Stratton has more than 30 years of experience in financial services and has worked in both cash and trade positions in global banks across Asia Pacific and the US. Before joining BTMU, he was managing his own consulting company providing transaction banking and relationship management training across Asia.

Stratton will report to Noritoshi Murakami, general manager of Asian transaction banking office, and will be based in Singapore. His starting day is April 6.

Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi’s operations in the Asia region are due to expand with the opening of a new branch providing full banking services in Rangoon, Myanmar, on April 22.

GTR has also learned that Michael Hogan has joined the bank as head of transaction banking, Emea, in London. He previously worked at National Australia Bank in Singapore as head of trade, Asia.