The latest moves, appointments and personnel changes in the Asia-Pacific region.

Standard Chartered appointed former Jones Lang Lasalle senior figure Khoo Kian Jin as head of private markets for Southeast Asia and South Asia. Khoo Kian Jin is based in Singapore, and reports to Nicholas Cheng, the head of the private markets group for the global private bank. In total, “KJ” has almost 20 years’ experience in wealth management, with a track record across private banking, family offices and commercial real estate. Prior to his new post, Khoo was head of private wealth for Asia capital markets at Jones Lang Lasalle.

Global investment firm Carlyle appointed a managing director and Asia-Pacific head for its wealth arm. Brad McCarthy joined as MD, head of APAC, for its Carlyle Global Wealth business. McCarthy, who is based in Singapore, also oversees the institutional wealth channel for Carlyle in Australia and New Zealand. McCarthy has more than 25 years’ wealth and asset management industry experience leading sales and client servicing teams, product launches and distribution strategies. He joined from Citi Private Bank and Global Wealth, where he was MD and APAC head of alternative investment sales. Prior to Citigroup, McCarthy was head of Asia at Permal.

Sun Hung Kai Capital Partners, the licensed funds management subsidiary of Sun Hung Kai & Co, appointed Lincoln Chan as director. Chan is responsible for sales of funds and products at SHK Capital Partners. 

Prior to this, Chan has more than 15 years of experience in the asset management industry; he served as director of intermediary business at Value Partners Group. His career includes senior positions at several leading financial institutions, including HSBC Global Asset Management, Standard Chartered Bank, Citibank, and HSBC, where he specialised in wealth management and investment strategies.

AIFT, a Hong Kong-based company that provides cybersecurity and insurance technology that taps into digital trends such as AI, appointed Obaid Buti Almulla of Dubai Insurance to join its board of directors. Professor Tony Chan, the former president of King Abdullah University of Science and Technology in Saudi Arabia, joined AIFT’s international advisory board.

Coller Capital, which specialises in managing private market secondary investments, set up a Singapore office. It named Peter Wu as head of product management, private wealth, in the Asia city-state. Wu, who has more than 14 years of global industry experience, was previously the global head of product control at Partners Group.

JP Morgan Asset Management appointed Supreet Bhan as head of intermediary business for Hong Kong. Bhan is based in Hong Kong; he reports to Elisa Ng, CEO of Hong Kong.

With more than two decades' experience in financial services, Bhan joined the business as head of funds for India in 2013 and has since led various distribution teams across the APAC region. In his most recent role, he was head of Southeast Asia funds.

Union Bancaire Privée appointed a former venture capital figure, Jamian Lai as its market head for the Philippines. Lai is based in Hong Kong and reports to Ricardo Choi, Philippines head. Prior to this new role, Lai worked at Headline Asia, a venture capital firm, where he was most recently venture partner and head of investor relations. Before that, he was market team head for Hong Kong and the Philippines at UBS. His career also includes time at the private banking arm of Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan, and Standard Chartered, as well as Synergy Capital Advisors, a private equity manager.

The Family Office Association Hong Kong re-elected Chi-man Kwan, of Raffles Family Office, as its chair. Grant Ko and Jim Kwok were appointed as vice chairs, with Jim Kwok also being re-elected for a second term in this role. Angel Chia was previously the chair of the association.
A former chief operating officer at the private bank of Deutsche Bank, Sudhir Nemali, joined Nomura’s international wealth arm in the COO and managing director position. Nemali is based in Singapore, reporting to Aleem Jivraj, chief operating officer, global markets, and Ravi Raju, head of international wealth management. At Deutsche Bank’s private banking arm, Nemali served in the COO role for Asia-Pacific, Middle East and Africa, and Latin America.

Cross-border advisor Quantuma promoted Joffrey Tan to managing director in its Singapore office. Tan was an integral part of Quantuma’s Singapore team for over three years.

HSBC announced a raft of appointments at its global private banking operations in Asia. Urban Binggeli was appointed global private banking (GPB) desk head for Indonesia. He reports to Hammad Hashmi, market head for Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia at HSBC GPB. Binggeli has more than 15 years’ experience in wealth management and UHNW client advisory.Benjamin Wang was named as GPB desk head for Thailand; he has more than 20 years’ experience in private banking and wealth management and has served as interim desk head for Thailand since July 2024. He leads the Thailand offshore and onshore teams based in Singapore and Bangkok. Based in Singapore, Wang reports to Hammad Hashmi, market head for Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore, on an entity basis and Abhishek Mehrotra, market head, Southeast Asia International, on a functional basis.

Other recent appointments:

-- Annie Lim, GPB desk head for Singapore (previously at Lombard Odier); 
-- Hammad Hashmi, market head, Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia, working at HSBC since 2007; and  
-- Abhishek Mehrotra, market head, Southeast Asia International. He leads and manages the desk heads and relationship managers covering the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Japan, and Australia, as well as the development of the UHNW client segment. Mehrotra has more than 20 years of banking experience, with the last 14 years in private banking. 

HSBC appointed former Citigroup figure Jil Chin as new head of international wealth hub for Singapore. Krist Wong previously held the role. Chin reports to Ashmita Acharaya, head of international wealth and premier banking, HSBC Singapore.

Eastspring Investments appointed Ray Farris as its first chief economist. At Prudential, Farris provides macroeconomic views and research in alignment with an evolving global macroeconomic and geopolitical landscape. Based in Singapore, Farris reports to Eastspring Investments’ chief investment officer Vis Nayar. With more than 30 years’ experience as an economist and strategist for international financial services firms, Farris led research in economics, markets and policy across three continents.

Bank of Singapore added three managers to its discretionary portfolio management team: Ivan Goh (senior portfolio manager; Donovan Goh (portfolio management), and Shayna Mok (client portfolio manager). Ivan Goh, who joined the firm in September 2024, most recently was senior investment strategist at LGT Bank (Hong Kong); Donovan Goh joined the firm in October last year as a fixed income portfolio manager. He used to work for UBS.

Charles Russell Speechlys, a law firm headquartered in London, appointed Tun Zaw Mra as a partner in the corporate team in Singapore. Tun, who was previously at Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner, has more than 14 years’ experience advising on M&A and other corporate transactions in the UK, Europe, and the Asia-Pacific region.

Muzinich & Co, which focuses on public and private corporate credit, appointed former BlackRock senior figure Pam Hsieh as director for marketing and client relations, based in Singapore. Hsieh reports to Sashi Nambiar, head of financial intermediaries and wealth, Asia.

Warburg Pincus and Australia-based real estate group Lendlease appointed former Abu Dhabi Investment Council senior figure Bart Price as CEO of the JV’s life sciences, R&D and innovation property platform. Price is based in Singapore. Working in capital markets, infrastructure and real estate in Asia-Pacific for more than 20 years, Price was most recently head of growth markets real assets at the ADIC, where he oversaw Asia-Pacific real estate and Asia-Pacific/Latin American infrastructure. 

DBS appointed Rajat Verma as its new chief executive of the DBS Bank India business. Verma, head of institutional banking group (IBG) at DBS Bank India, succeeded Surojit Shome as CEO. Verma is part of DBS’ group management committee. Shome was appointed as CEO of DBS Bank India in 2015.

Carey Olsen, an offshore law firm, promoted several lawyers, including in Hong Kong, where Yi Yang (litigation) was promoted to senior associate.

Singapore-based payment services group Network for Electronic Transfers appointed UOB head of group technology and operations, Lawrence Goh, to join its board. Goh succeeded Eddie Khoo, senior Advisor to UOB in Vietnam, as a UOB representative to the NETS board. Khoo was previously the head of group personal financial services. Goh held positions as the head of group infrastructure platform services and chief operating officer for GTO at UOB.