Kunz will replace Sandeep Sharma, who left HSBC earlier this month, according to a Singapore-based spokesman for the firm.
Sharma was co-head of Southeast Asia since 2014. He was named the sole head of the region in 2016, according to an earlier statement from the bank.
The other co-head, Rob Ioannou, left for DBS Private Bank to become head of international private banking in 2016, according to a statement from DBS.
Kunz will be responsible for driving and executing HSBC’s strategy for private banking across Southeast Asia. Based in Singapore, he will report locally to Tony Cripps, HSBC’s Singapore CEO, and functionally to Tan Siew Meng, regional head of global private banking for Asia-Pacific.
“As the regional wealth hub for Asean and a leading booking centre internationally for high net worth individuals, Singapore is a strategically important beachhead for wealth in the region,” Cripps said in the statement.
According to a source familiar with the matter, before 2010, Kunz led HSBC’s South Asia team.
But in 2010, he left the bank to join UBS Wealth Management, serving as the market head of Indonesia. He held the role at UBS for seven years until 2017, when he was appointed to the newly-created role of operating head for Southeast Asia.
Geoffroy De Ridder, UBS Wealth’s Asia-Pacific operating head, together with his team, will support the Southeast Asia business until the firm finds a replacement for Kunz.
