FILE PHOTO: A view of the exterior of the JP Morgan Chase & Co. corporate headquarters in New York City May 20, 2015. REUTERS/Mike Segar/Files/File Photo

NEW YORK (Reuters) - JPMorgan Chase & Co on Wednesday named half a dozen people to a commercial banking team in Europe and new international and Asia-Pacific regional leaders, as the U.S. bank closes in on business clients it hopes to poach from rivals abroad.

For two years, JPMorgan’s commercial banking business has been building a list of around 1,500 middle-market European companies that it wants to attract through its global approach to investment banking, credit, hedging and treasury services.

The targets are companies with between $500 million to $2 billion in annual revenue and international ambitions, including known brands that already use JPMorgan for their U.S. business and companies whose owners are JPMorgan private wealth clients.

“We see a lot of opportunity for local corporations in these markets to grow, and they can benefit from working with a global banking partner,” Rob Holmes, head of the bank’s corporate client banking & specialized industries (CCBSI) group, said in a statement.

Andrew Kresse was named head of CCBSI international banking. Kresse comes from JPMorgan’s corporate and investment bank and he will build local teams to expand commercial banking activity in European and Asia-Pacific markets, where the investment bank already has a foothold.

Bertrand Cousin was named head of CCBSI Europe and will be based out of Paris, managing bankers in Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, France and the UK.

His team includes Claude Craciun in Paris, who joined from Societe Generale SA, Bernhard Brinker in Frankfurt, who joined from UniCredit Bank AG, Marco Mariano in Milan, who joined from HSBC, and Hein Broerse in Amsterdam, previously of Citigroup Inc.

Ignacio Álvarez-Cedrón, previously head of global markets for Iberia for JPMorgan’s corporate and investment bank, will be based in Madrid.

Pravid Advani will lead CCBSI for the Asia-Pacific region, based in Singapore. He previously led global trade and loans for the corporate and investment bank.