Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) has appointed Maaike Steinebach as its Hong Kong country head and managing director for its institutional banking and markets business.

Steinebach joins from ABN Amro where she was country executive for Hong Kong and managing director of large corporates and merchant banks.

She will be responsible for running the Hong Kong operations as well as working with the bank’s teams in Shanghai and Beijing.
James Rickward, executive general manager of corporate and institutional banking in Asia for CBA, comments: “Her extensive experience combined with her in-depth regional knowledge is a great addition to our business and will add significant value and insight for our clients.”

CBA has been focusing on its growth in Asia over the last few years and, in August this year, hired Neal Livingston as global head of trade and transaction services to work out of the Singapore office.

It also added ex-Citi banker Chris Boadle as regional head of trade and payments at the end of 2011 as part of this focus.