The latest roundup of moves and appointments for wealth management in Asia, covering the month of February. Notable examples came from Union Bancaire Privée, Standard Chartered, HSBC and Rothschild & Co.

Capital Group, the global investment house with more than $2.7 trillion in assets under management, appointed David Cheng as fixed income investment director.

Based in Singapore, Cheng’s responsibilities include representing Capital Group’s fixed income team, deepening client engagement on bonds and growing the firm’s fixed income business across Asia. Cheng has more than two decades of industry experience, most recently as an investment director at Schroders in Singapore. Prior to that, he spent six years at UBS serving as the head of APAC ex-Japan investment specialists in Hong Kong and a portfolio manager in Chicago.

Union Bancaire Privée appointed Wee Ping Nah as chief executive for its Asian asset management business. He took over from Ted Holland, who returned to the US, his home country, for personal reasons. Wee Ping Nah reports functionally to Nicolas Faller, co-CEO for asset management and head of institutional clients, and regionally to Michael Blake, regional Asia head and CEO for Asian wealth management.

Wee Ping Nah has more than 25 years’ experience working for major financial institutions across Asia, including Goldman Sachs, Credit Agricole Asset Management, and Fortis. 

Standard Chartered Bank appointed a group of senior managers across its Asia business.

It named Xie Wen as global head, business banking and Mohamed Keraine as global head, digital, for its consumer, private and business banking. Xie Wen and Mohamed Keraine report to Judy Hsu, chief executive, CPBB. 

Xie Wen is the bank’s co-head, client coverage for commercial, corporate and institutional. She spent the last 25 years with the bank, building her career in retail and wholesale banking, with roles in country, region and group levels. Xie Wen was country chief risk officer for Singapore and China before going on to head commercial banking in China in 2015. Xie Wen is still based in China.

Mohamed Keraine joined from ING where he began his career with ING Direct France in 2006. He went on to assume several positions at ING’s head office in Amsterdam, including product manager, innovation programme manager and head of business development for retail markets in Europe, Australia and Asia from 2011 to 2017. In 2018, he was appointed head of retail development Asia, where he brought his knowledge of digital banking from launching the first digital bank in the Philippines and leading strategic initiatives in Southeast Asia and China.

The bank’s China business also appointed Richard Li as head of consumer, private and business banking (CPBB), China. Li worked in the banking sector for nearly 30 years. Prior to this appointment, he worked in financial organisations at various levels as executive vice president, chief client officer, and head of retail banking and wealth management.

The bank also named Jessie Li as head of CPBB, Singapore. Based in Singapore, she reports to Samir Subberwal, head of CPBB, Asia, and Patrick Lee, cluster CEO, Singapore and ASEAN markets. She also joins the bank’s Singapore country management team. Li started her career as a management associate with Citibank, before joining Standard Chartered Bank Hong Kong in 1993 until 2000. Following that, she held senior positions in HSBC, AIG and AIA, and was also the deputy chief executive and head of retail banking and wealth management with Hang Seng Bank (China) Limited. Jessie re-joined the Bank in 2019 as head of CPBB, China, and deputy chief executive, Standard Chartered Bank China.

Deutsche Bank's private banking arm appointed DWS strategist Stefanie Holtze-Jen as its new chief investment officer, Asia-Pacific. At DWS Holtze-Jen was global chief currency strategist, portfolio manager, coordinating a team to guide the portfolio managers on strategy in foreign-exchange exposure covering the macro view, positioning and technical analysis. Prior to DWS, she worked in different leadership roles at Commerzbank and Royal Bank of Canada in Hong Kong, Singapore and London. She reports to Christian Nolting, global chief investment officer, and Rajesh Mahadevan, head capital markets and CIO and investment solutions, APAC, at Deutsche Bank IPB.

BlackRock appointed Hiroyuki Shimizu as head of institutional for Asia-Pacific. He is based in Hong Kong. Shimizu supports the chief executive, representative director, and head of Japan Hiroyuki Arita to serve the firm’s Japan client business. Shimizu was most recently global co-head of private credit and equity distribution, head of Japan and Korea, as well as president and representative director of Japan at Morgan Stanley Investment Management. Prior to that, he was CEO of KKR Capital Markets Japan, leading its fundraising and financing efforts. 
 

Value Partners, the Hong Kong-listed investment group, named former State Street manager Ellen Tsang as managing director, head of marketing and communications. She is based in Hong Kong and reports to group president June Wong. Tsang. who was formerly head of marketing for Asia ex-Japan at State Street Global Advisors, has more than 20 years of marketing experience. She worked at abrdn (formerly known as Aberdeen Standard), Amundi and Pictet.

HSBC Singapore named former JP Morgan senior figure, Tancy Tan as its chief operating officer. At JP Morgan, Tan was global head for its Centre of Excellence for Intelligent Automation, Asset and Wealth Management, where she led the introduction of AI and analytics into the business operations. Tan reports to Kee Joo Wong on an entity level and to David Grimme, COO, HSBC Asia-Pacific, on a functional basis.

Manulife Investment Management made a number of promotions and changes to its fixed-income investment teams. In Asia, it made the following promotions: Murray Collis, deputy CIO, fixed income, Asia (ex-Japan) was promoted to CIO, fixed income, Asia (ex-Japan). He assumed oversight of the Asia ex-Japan franchise from Endre Pedersen, deputy CIO, global fixed income, and CIO, global emerging-market fixed income, while continuing to report to him in this capacity.  Alvin Ong, portfolio manager, Singapore fixed income, who was promoted to the role of head of fixed income, Singapore, continues to report to Murray Collis.

HSBC Bank (Singapore) named Penny Goh as independent chairman of its board. She succeeded Mervyn Fong as board chair. Fong had served as interim board chair since August last year. She is continueing to serve as chair of the risk committee and member of the audit committee until his retirement from the board in April. Goh was first appointed as an independent non-executive director of HSBC Bank (Singapore) in August 2019.

Schroders Capital, the private assets division of UK-listed wealth and asset manager Schroders, appointed Andrew Haskins as head of strategy and investor advisory, Schroders Capital real estate Asia-Pacific, a newly-created role. He is based in Hong Kong and reports to Andrew Moore, head of Schroders Capital’s real estate division in Asia-Pacific.

Vincent Tang joined Julius Baer as a team leader for the Southeast Asia group. Based in Singapore, he reports to Chin Lit Yee, group head of Southeast Asia. Tang, who has more than 20 years of wealth management experience, joined from UOB Private Bank, where he worked for nearly three years, most recently as market head for Malaysia. Previously, he served in various senior leadership roles at Credit Suisse in Hong Kong and Singapore, including market leader for Hong Kong, head of real assets lending in Asia-Pacific and team leader in Singapore. Prior to that, Tang was with UBS as a senior client advisor for the ultra-high net worth team.

Union Bancaire PrivĂ©e appointed Anthony Kao as managing director, head of advisory solutions for Asia – a newly-created team. Kao, based in Hong Kong, reports regionally to Edouard Hoepffner, head of investment services Asia, and globally to Philippe Henry, global head of advisory. Prior to this, Kao spent more than 10 years at Citigroup where he was most recently the North Asia team lead for the Global Investment Lab, a team covering multi-asset class portfolios for ultra and mega wealth clients and family offices. 

abrdn, the firm formerly known as Standard Life Aberdeen, appointed Vivian Tang as head of institutional clients, Asia-Pacific. Based in Hong Kong, Tang reports to Rene Buehlmann, Asia-Pacific CEO of the business.

Tang has more than 20 years’ experience in the asset management sector. Before taking up this role, she worked at First Sentier Investors, where she was head of distribution, North Asia responsible for leading the strategic planning and business development in North Asia and managing the institutional and wholesale client business in the region. Prior to joining FSI, Tang served in senior roles with responsibility for the distribution and coverage of clients in Greater China and as an Asian Equities investment specialist.

Natixis Corporate & Investment Banking named Bertrand Guiot as head of real assets and investment banking, Southeast Asia, and head of infrastructure funds coverage, Asia-Pacific. Based in Singapore, Guiot reports locally to Sanjeev Kumar, senior country manager, Singapore, and head of southeast and South Asia, to Raghu Narain, head of investment banking, Asia-Pacific, and to Emmanuel Gillet-Lagarde, head of real assets and global trade, Asia-Pacific.

Guiot has worked in various roles at Natixis CIB for close to a decade. Prior to his new role, he was senior country manager for Natixis Canada Branch for two and a half years. 

Rothschild & Co appointed a senior figure in the financial services space, Naina Lal Kidwai, as a senior advisor. She joined the board of Rothschild & Co India as a non-executive member. Kidwai assists in advising Rothschild & Co on its strategic ambitions, with a focus on helping drive growth in the region. Kidwai previously served as chairman of HSBC India and executive director on the board of HSBC Asia-Pacific, as vice chairman and head of investment banking at JM Morgan Stanley, and president of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry.