The Bank of Bermuda has appointed Ashley Parker as head of Banking Services.

Mr. Parker relocated to Bermuda in mid 2007 and took up the role in October. The position was previously held by Michael Collins, who has been promoted to chief operating officer.

As head of Banking Services, Mr. Parker is responsible for overseeing the customer-facing divisions of the Bank, including Personal Financial Services, Commercial and Business Banking, Corporate and Institutional Banking, as well as the Bank's Payments and Cash Management department and the Banking division's Operations and Processing areas.

In this role, he also joins the Bank's Management Committee.

Mr. Parker joins the Bank of Bermuda from Korea, where he was chief operating officer for HSBC, and brings with him 25 years of experience in banking and financial services. Since joining the HSBC Group in 1994, he has worked in several jurisdictions including Australia, the UK, Hong Kong and Korea.

Mr. Parker holds a Bachelor of Business Degree, majoring in Accounting, from Cowan University in Western Australia and has also completed a post graduate Diploma in Applied Finance and Investments with the Securities Institute of Australia. Mr. Parker's appointment complements a number of changes that have taken place in the Commercial and Corporate Banking divisions which includes the promotion of Roland (Andy) Burrows to head of Commercial Banking in September 2007.

With more than 20 years of experience in the banking industry, Mr. Burrows previously held the position of chief credit officer for Bank of Bermuda, where he was primarily responsible for the credit risk management of the Bank's balance sheet.

In his new role, Mr. Burrows has management responsibility of the existing Commercial, Business and Corporate Banking departments with an aim to progressively merge them into a single entity.

Mr. Parker said: "As head of Banking Services in Bermuda I look forward to further leveraging the Bank's strong position in the local market to provide new and innovative products and improving services to our customers, both locally and internationally through our membership of the HSBC Group."