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* Asia Pacific banking head Russell Julius in unrelated moveto London
* Rynbeck to replace George Davidson, who becomes M&A vicechairman
* HSBC seeks to continue Asia M&A momentum after first top-5ranking (Recasts, adds other HSBC moves, background of HSBC M&Aperformance)
By Lawrence White
HONG KONG, May 28 (Reuters) - HSBC Holdings Plc hashired Jason Rynbeck as its head of mergers and acquisitions forAsia-Pacific, sources with direct knowledge of the matter toldReuters on Wednesday, a few weeks after he left British rivalBarclays Plc.
Rynbeck will join HSBC later this year after a period ofleave following his exit from Barclays, one of the people said.
In a separate move, HSBC's head of banking for Asia PacificRussell Julius will be transferred to a London-based role at thebank, the people said.
Julius will work within HSBC's commercial banking divisionin Europe to encourage corporate clients to use the Britishlender's investment banking services, the sources added.
A spokesman for HSBC declined to comment on the moves.Julius declined to comment when reached by mobile phone. Callsto Rynbeck's mobile went unanswered.
Rynbeck left Barclays on May 8, Reuters previously reported,amid a global shrinking of the British lender's investment bank.
Rynbeck will replace former Goldman Sachs banker GeorgeDavidson in his new role at HSBC. Davidson will become a vicechairman for mergers and acquisitions at HSBC in Asia Pacific,one of the people said.
HSBC last year leapfrogged investment banking rivalsincluding Goldman Sachs to land in the top five for Asian M&Aadvisory for the first time, boosted by its ability to providefunding for clients and a string of deals in India and HongKong.
Since then HSBC has worked on top Asia deals includingChina's COFCO Corp buying a 51 percent stake in Dutchgrain trader Nidera, and Singapore state investorTemasek's investment in Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-shing'sA.S. Watson.
HSBC Chief Executive Stuart Gulliver is on a drive to drawmore commercial banking clients worldwide to increase theirinvestment banking business with the bank. (Reporting by Lawrence White; Editing by Miral Fahmy)
