JPMorgan hires ex-IMF director to lead Asian regulation strategy JPMorgan Chase has hired Anoop Singh, the former director of the International Monetary Fund's Asia-Pacific department, to be head of regulatory strategy in that region. The newly created position, which will be announced on Thursday, comes amid a probe into JPMorgan's hiring practices in China and a global investigation into the manipulation of foreign exchange trading that has ensnared other banks. The bank has also recently settled high-stakes probes in the US and elsewhere over mortgage practices during the financial crisis, its energy trading operations and its $6.2bn derivatives trading loss suffered in 2012 in a scandal dubbed the London Whale. The decision to hire Mr Singh comes out of efforts by Tim Ryan, who rejoined JPMorgan a year ago as global head of regulatory strategy and policy, to improve the bank's coverage of those topics in Asia. "This is about how do we get ourselves well organised horizontally," Mr Ryan said. We thought it was a strength but events showed we needed improvement. We needed to do a better job. Mr Singh led IMF missions to Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia during the Asian financial crisis in the 1990s, and he has also been involved with the agency in China, India, Japan and Australia. The addition of Mr Singh, who will start in February and be based in Hong Kong, will help JPMorgan's vast global operations respond to regulatory changes. He will report to Mr Ryan and Andrew Butcher, chief administrative officer for JPMorgan in Asia-Pacific. Mr Singh and Mr Ryan will also co-ordinate with Sally Dewar, who previously headed risk at the UK's now defunct Financial Services Authority. She is based in London and was hired in 2011 to focus on European Union and global regulatory issues. "We need more good people on the ground in Asia who understand the idiosyncrasies of each country," Mr Ryan said. And Anoop has that understanding. While Asian countries have not co-ordinated regulatory reforms as much as Europe, they are beginning to work together on certain issues, and JPMorgan officials aim to be actively involved in that process. In December, 23 Asian regulators wrote to their European counterparts saying EU rules for clearing houses on over-the-counter derivatives trades would harm liquidity. Mr Singh will also concentrate on issues that are unique to banking in Asia. While the 2008 financial crisis brought a focus on the Basel III global regulatory initiatives and the US has focused on the Dodd-Frank financial reform legislation, there has not been an equivalent push in Asia. Mr Singh has good relationships with central bankers in Asia because of his IMF work, so he will focus on getting to know regulatory policy makers in the region. Those officials are also eager to learn from JPMorgan more about how it operates and how the bank has dealt with its problems, bank officials said.