A roundup of the moves in the Asia-Pacific industry for September.

Pictet appointed Victor Aerni – who is head of its wealth business in the German-speaking part of Switzerland – as the CEO for its wealth arm in Asia. The appointment will take effect from 1 July 2023.

Tee Fong Seng, who leads Pictet Wealth Management Asia, is remaining on the board of directors of Bank Pictet & Cie (Asia) Ltd (BPCAL), Pictet Group’s Singapore banking entity, as vice chairman of the board, reporting to François Pictet, managing partner of the Pictet Group and chairman of the board. 

Evelyn Yeo, head of Asia investments, was appointed deputy CEO, BPCAL to support Sharon Chou (head of South Asia and CEO BPCAL). Based in Singapore, Yeo is continuing as head of Asia investments. She has more than 20 years of industry experience in leadership covering investment office, mandate consulting and sales management with Julius Baer and UBS, before joining Pictet in 2019.

Aerni is an equity partner of the Pictet Group and has been the zone head responsible for German-speaking Switzerland since April 2009. Prior to joining the firm, Aerni was with the Boston Consulting Group for 16 years. 

A 30-year private banking industry veteran, Tee Fong Seng has led the wealth management business of Pictet in Asia since July 2019.

Natixis Investment Managers appointed former Franklin Templeton figure Dora Seow as CEO for its business in Singapore. Seow is based in Singapore and reports to Fabrice Chemouny, head of Asia-Pacific. Seow succeeded Madeline Ho who left the firm to pursue other opportunities. At Franklin Templeton, Seow worked for more than 20 years in a variety of roles, most recently as country head for Singapore.

UBS welcomed Sheryl Fofaria back to its fold as its new head of social impact and philanthropy for Southeast Asia. Fofaria has 18 years of experience spanning philanthropy and finance. Prior to joining UBS, she led JP Morgan’s Philanthropy Centre in Europe, the Middle East & Africa, advising wealth management clients on using philanthropy strategically to address social and environmental issues. Forfaria, who is based in Singapore, reports directly to Tom Hall, UBS global head social impact and philanthropy. For local supervision, she reports to Dino Rinaldi, co-head APAC A&S and client services.

First Sentier Investors appointed Miranda Poon as director, institutional business, in the North Asia distribution team. Based in Hong Kong, Poon reports to Lauren Prendiville, managing director and head of distribution, Asia. 

Indosuez Wealth Management appointed Ong Yeng Fang as South-East Asia global market head and Rosemarie Chong as UHNWI and Wealth Partnership market head, both based in its Singapore branch. Yeng Fang, who has regional experience in wealth management, business development, corporate and strategic planning, leads the South-East Asia market. Prior to joining Indosuez, she was managing director and head of UOB Private Bank for eight years. 

Chong heads the newly-established Ultra High Net Worth Individuals & Wealth Partnership team in partnership with Edward Hsu, managing director at Indosuez, Singapore. Before Indosuez, she was managing director of BCV Investment Asia, a Singapore-based Swiss fund management institution with core businesses in private wealth and asset management.

The Financial Markets Authority in New Zealand made a number of leadership changes:

-- Liam Mason, who is continuing as general counsel, was appointed as executive director, evaluation and oversight; 
-- Paul Gregory was appointed to the role of ED, response and enforcement, and Clare Bolingford was appointed as ED, regulatory delivery; 
-- James Greig (director of supervision) is supporting his current team in the transition to the FMA’s new structure;  
-- Brad Edley, who has been chief operating officer at the FMA for six years, left the organisation; and 
-- John Boticas is serving as interim COO in addition to his current role. 

HSBC Global Private Banking appointed Sharnika Silva as head of Trust and Fiduciary Services, Southeast Asia. Silva reports to Brent York, global head of TFS, on a functional basis, and to Philip Kunz, head of GPB South Asia, on an entity basis. She is based in Singapore and has worked at HSBC Trustee for more than 15 years. She held a number of leadership posts, most recently as a Trust Relationship Management team head, in addition to her role as resident manager and director of HSBC Trustee since 2017.

Citigroup appointed Aditya Sharma as Asia head of custody following the move of Aashish Mishra to become the Asia TTS [treasury and trade solutions] financial institutions sales head earlier this year. Prior to this, Sharma was head of securities services for South Asia (India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh), which he managed for the last four years. He has worked at the US bank for 19 years in a variety of roles.
 

Jersey Finance appointed Yiow Chong Tan as business development director for Southeast Asia. He is based in Singapore. Tan has business and corporate finance experience in the Asian markets where he has been involved in the origination, marketing, structuring, negotiation, due diligence and execution of private equity, stock exchange listings and M&A deals across Singapore and Malaysia.

In a previous role, he built working relationships with Chinese high net worth clients and institutional investors to secure and raise funds for mandated clients.
HSBC Asset Management appointed Victoria Sharpe as head of real assets, and Scott McClurg as head of private credit for its alternatives division, HSBC Alternatives. Sharpe is based in Singapore and McClurg is based in London.

Sharpe will be responsible for the strategic development and management of the real assets proposition which consists of direct real estate teams and listed infrastructure equity teams. She took on the role from Joanna Munro, who has been acting head of real assets, in addition to her role as CEO, HSBC Alternatives. Sharpe, who reports to Munro, joined the firm in 2021 as head of and chief investment officer for real estate, Asia-Pacific. She retains these responsibilities in her expanded role,

Prior to HSBC, Sharpe was responsible for building and leading the Asia-Pacific real estate business for DWS. Before DWS, she spent 16 years with the global investment management firm PGIM (formerly Prudential Investment Management), as head of real estate, Asia-Pacific.

Citigroup appointed Vicky Kong as consumer business manager for Citibank Hong Kong and chief executive of Citibank Hong Kong. She reports to Angel Ng, head of Asia, Citi Global Wealth, and Aveline San, chief executive officer for Citi Hong Kong and Macau.

UBS Global Wealth Management appointed both Desiree Lam and Dabby Leung as market team head for Global Family and Institutional Wealth in Hong Kong. Lam, who replaced Bryce Wan, first joined UBS from Goldman Sachs in 2013, where she headed up the Wealth Management Structured Credit Team for North Asia until 2017. Subsequently, she moved to HSBC Private Bank as regional head of Credit Advisory.

Leung started her career working in corporate banking at Citibank and subsequently moved to Credit Suisse as a senior client partner covering the UHNW Hong Kong market for 15 years.

Calastone, a global funds network, appointed Ross Fox as managing director of the Asia-Pacific region to lead Calastone’s business expansion there and to launch its regional headquarters in Singapore. Fox relocated to Singapore from Sydney where he was previously responsible for managing Calastone’s Australia business. With more than 15 years of experience working across the asset management industry, Ross leads Calastone’s strategy and business expansion in the APAC region.

UBP appointed Alania Hsu Concepcion and Priscilla Wuersch-Ng to join its partner advisory team in South Asia. Hsu Concepcion joined UBP as head of partner advisory, South Asia. Based in Singapore, she reports regionally to Edouard Hoepffner, head of investment services Asia, and globally to Philippe Henry, global head of advisory.

Concepcion's role is a new one at the Geneva-based bank. During her international career spanning over 20 years, Concepcion has held a number of senior positions across global markets and wealth management. She was the co-head of private banking coverage in Asia for Barclays Global Markets for seven years, as well as the head of investment consulting for the Singapore and Malaysia markets at Credit Suisse.