Singapore-based Mr Wetherell replaces Ritu Chandy, who will relocate to Munich and take over as head of Group Treasury.

Mr Wetherell is responsible for BMW’s Financial Services business across seven countries in the Asia Pacific region – Australia, New Zealand, India, Japan, Malaysia, South Korea and Thailand – as well as strategic partnerships in Indonesia, Singapore and Vietnam.

He started with the BMW Group in 1997 with BMW Financial Services UK, where he spent nine years, including five years as general manager of the Customer Service centre.

In 2006 he relocated to South Africa to take on the position of sales and marketing director of BMW Financial Services South Africa.

He started in the Asian region as the operations director of BMW Automotive Finance China in 2010, and after three years, he moved to Malaysia to take on the role of managing director at BMW Credit Malaysia.

Prior to his appointment, Mr Wetherell was president and CEO of BMW Japan Finance Corporation, where he was responsible for the financial oversight and development of the Financial Services business in the market.

BMW Group Financial Services operates subsidiaries and runs partnerships with local financial services providers and importers on every continent, in 58 markets around the world.

It employs more than 8600 people and is one of the leading financial services companies in the automotive sector.

By Neil Dowling