Jefferies, the global securities and investment banking firm, has appointed three senior executives to head its emerging markets group in Singapore.

Lance Heatley, previously based in London, will become managing director in Singapore to lead the company's emerging markets sales and trading activities in Asia. Jay Lee joins in from Knight Libertas as senior vice president, while Jeremy Lee comes from Royal Bank of Scotland, also as senior vice president; the pair will be responsible for sales of emerging markets debt with Asian customers.

“The expansion of our emerging markets team into Asia underscores the global nature and presence of Jefferies’ fixed income business today,” Tim Cronin, the global head of fixed income at Jefferies, said in a statement.

Jefferies has been actively expanding its Asian operations over the past two years and now employs 450 professionals worldwide, including 30 focused on emerging markets in Asia, Africa, Eastern Europe and Latin America. Its main operations in Asia are in China, where the company has a dedicated team offering a suite of financial products, such as US public and private offerings and cross-border M&A advisory.