BoNY names corporate trust head

The Bank of New York (BoNY) has announced that Gary Lew has joined the firm to lead its corporate trust business regionally. From the bankÆs Hong Kong offices, Lew will be charged with growing BoNYÆs regional trust business following its October purchase of JPMorganÆs corporate trust business globally.

In his new role of managing director and head of corporate trust in Asia, Lew will report to Samir Panditi, BoNYÆs global head of corporate trust in New York. He will also oversee the hiring of new members to its corporate trust team, which has already begun and will likely expand quite significantly over the short term.

Prior to joining BoNY in late 2006, Lew was employed by Deutsche Bank in Hong Kong and brings more than 20 years of related experience to the role. At Deutsche he was managing director and head of global trust services, and was involved in the management of various types of debt, equity linked and equity financing transactions. While at Deutsche Bank and Bankers Trust, Lew was also involved with project finance, structured finance, fund administration, business development and relationship management.

BonYÆs purchase of JPMorganÆs corporate trust business made the firm the largest corporate trust provider globally and gave it a presence in several local markets. Following the purchase, BoNY now has regional corporate trust offices in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore. It also has a joint venture in Australia.

Corporate trust providers like BoNY are appointed by corporations, municipal governments and other entities issuing debt to perform a variety of duties. Under this umbrella, functions include servicing and maintaining the debt issue, processing principal and interest payments for investors, representing investors in defaults, and providing value-added services for complex debt structures.