This publication carries a round-up of top-level hires and moves in Asia-Pacific wealth management in March.

T Rowe Price appointed Naoyuki Honda as country head for Japan, a new position. Honda is also representative of Japan for the company. Shonei Shigeta previously served as representative of Japan but will remain in the company as senior manager, global client operations in Japan. Previously, Honda served as managing director of Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley PB securities. He also spent two decades in senior management roles at Merrill Lynch.

One of the main regulatory authorities in Hong Kong appointed Thomas Atkinson, the head of enforcement at Ontario Securities Commission in Canada, to take on an equivalent role in the Asian jurisdiction at the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission. Atkinson takes over from Mark Steward, who left in September to join the UK's Financial Conduct Authority. His term of office runs for three years.

Tho Gea Hong was appointed as the new head of wealth management, Southeast Asia, at RBC Wealth Management, based in Singapore. Gea Hong previously worked at EFG Private Bank, where she was head of private banking for Southeast Asia and deputy CEO for Singapore, a position held from August 2012. Prior to that, Gea Hong was at Merrill Lynch International Bank from November 2004 to July 2012.

The chief operating officer of Australia-headquartered AMP Capital left the company amid a restructuring of its executive team. Sharon Davis’s role as director of Australia and New Zealand and COO was “no longer needed” due to the creation of a combined chief financial officer and chief operating officer position, as well as the appointments of other regional directors. Davis worked at AMP for 12 years.

Margaret Payn, AMP Capital's CFO, now serves as the CFO/COO for the company. 

The company also appointed three new executives based in Australia and New Zealand, the North-West region (including Europe, India, Middle East and the US) and Asia to “orient and bolster the distribution teams”. Craig Keary, who led distribution in Australia and New Zealand, was appointed as director of Australia and New Zealand, taking over from Davis. Boe Pahari leads the distribution functions in the North-West region while continuing as global head infrastructure equity director, North-West. Anthony Fassa, who served as director of international, focuses on distribution and strategic partnerships in Asia and leads global coordination of client and consultant coverage. His new role is global head of portfolio strategy and director, Asia. 

Manulife, the Canada-headquartered firm operating in regions such as Asia, appointed Mark Van den Broek as chief information officer of its Hong Kong branch.  Before joining Manulife, Van den Broek held a number of senior management positions. Most recently, he was regional chief information officer of AXA, responsible for IT strategy, delivery, security and operations for all business units across the Asia region.  

International law firm Allen & Overy appointed Charlotte Robins as a partner in its regulatory practice in Hong Kong. Robins previously worked at Norton Rose Fulbright, where she has been a partner for the past five years. She has practised in Hong Kong for more than 15 years. Robins forms part of A&O’s global financial services regulatory practice, which spans Asia-Pacific, Europe, US and the Middle East. 

Vontobel Wealth Management Asia-Pacific, part of Switzerland-listed Vontobel, appointed Christine Chen as a senior relationship manager. Chen’s role is newly created and she is based in Hong Kong and reports to Alex Fung, Asia-Pacific chief executive of Vontobel Wealth Management. Chen has more than 10 years of financial industry experience working with private banks, hedge funds, investment trusts and securities houses in Asia. Prior to joining Vontobel, Chen worked for CTBC Bank, where she was an associate director responsible for high net worth clients in China and Taiwan. She has worked with a number of banks in Hong Kong, including DBS Bank, Citibank and EFG Bank.

Singapore-based crowdfunding firm CoAssets appointed a former top-ranking army officer to be chief operating officer. The COO is Lawrence Lim, the jurisdiction’s ex-chief artillery officer. Lim also served as commander personnel command, as well as head joint operations planning and head control of operations group for the Singapore Armed Forces. Lim was also the organising chairman for the opening and closing ceremonies of the 28th South East Asian (SEA) Games, which were held in Singapore. Lim's role will be to drive CoAssets' day-to-day operations, while the firm's CEO, Getty Goh, continues to implement the company's operational strategy.

Natixis Asset Management appointed Matthieu Duncan as chief executive following the resignation of Pascal Voisin. A dual French and US citizen, Duncan began his career in the financial industry at Goldman Sachs, where he held various positions in the capital markets sector in Paris and London between 1990 and 2003. Since 2004, he has held various positions in asset management in London: chief investment officer for equities at Cambridge Place Investment Management, head of business strategy and member of the board of directors of Newton Investment Management (a Bank of New York Mellon company), and chief operating officer and member of the board of directors of Quilter Cheviot Investment Management.

BSI confirmed the retirement of Hans Peter Brunner, its Asia chief executive, rounding out 45 years in the industry. Responsibility for BSI Bank Singapore was taken up by Raj Sriram, who is head of private banking for Asia. He has been at the bank since 2009. 

Bonhams unveiled a new executive team based in Hong Kong, appointing Edward Wilkinson as executive director in Asia and Ingrid Dudek as the head of the modern and contemporary art team in Asia. Both roles were newly created.

Wilkinson was director of South Asian, Indian and Himalayan art based in the US. Dudek previously served as vice president and international senior specialist in Asian 20th century and contemporary art at Christie’s from 2006-2015.

Cazenove Capital Management, part of UK-listed Schroders, appointed former Credit Suisse senior manager Simon Lints as head of wealth management in Singapore. Subject to regulatory approval, he also becomes chief executive for Schroder and Co Asia, the firm said. He replaced Swan Khing Go, who left the firm last year. Previously at Credit Suisse, Singapore, Lints worked at that firm since 2008, most recently as team leader of UK/international within the international wealth management business in Singapore. 

Credit Suisse confirmed that Lars van den Bosch rejoined it as head of human resources for the international wealth management division, having held a similar role at Julius Baer in Switzerland recently. Prior to joining Julius Baer a year ago, he had worked at Credit Suisse’s Singapore operation. Van den Bosch worked as head of human resources, managing director, at Julius Baer from February 2015, working in the Zurich area.

From February 2014 to January 2015, he was head of the Singapore booking centre, private banking, based out of Singapore. From 2010 to January 2015, he also held the role of head of international wealth management in Singapore at the private bank. From 2000 to October 2010, he was head of human resources at Credit Suisse’s private bank in the EMEA region, based out of Zurich, according to his LinkedIn profile.

The man holding the chairmanship of PricewaterhouseCoopers in the US since 2009 is to take the helm as chairman for the entire PwC international network from the start of July this year. Bob Moritz takes up the role for a four-year term from 1 July 2016. Moritz succeeds Dennis Nally, the current PwC global chairman, who will retire this June after a 42-year career with PwC.  

HSBC Private Bank's investment services and product solutions business in Asia made two senior appointments. Peggy Kwok was promoted to the position of regional head of investment counselling for Asia. Kwok has more than 20 years of experience in portfolio and investment counselling and fixed income, formulating investment ideas, market views and strategies. Prior to joining HSBC, she held institutional and retail banking roles at Royal Bank of Canada, Citibank and Chase Manhattan Bank.

The bank also added Jackie Mau as managing director in the regional investment counselling team, reporting to Kwok. Mau has experience in leading financial markets sales businesses in Asia, especially in the Greater China region. He has built corporate sales businesses in Thailand, Southern China and Hong Kong for global markets at HSBC. Most recently, Mau was managing director and head of corporate sales financial markets for China and Taiwan at Standard Chartered Bank. He is based in Hong Kong.

Australia and New Zealand Banking Group appointed Richard Yetsenga as acting chief economist, reporting to acting managing director for markets Shayne Collins. The move follows the resignation of Warren Hogan. Yetsenga joined ANZ in 2011 and was most recently global head of financial markets research, responsible for economic research across all ANZ’s financial markets products.

Julius Baer recruited a former UBS private banker, Alberto Martinelli, expanding its Singapore wealth management team. Martinelli is part of the ultra-high net worth individual team, holding the title of head of the special clients team. He reports to Marco Diana, head of private banking international for Singapore, a spokesperson told this news service. Martinelli initially worked for UBS in Switzerland from 2000 to 2002 and then in Italy from 2003 to 2004. He moved with the bank to Singapore in 2005.

Nikko Asset Management appointed Mark De Vries as its new chief risk management officer, responsible for the governance of risk and related opportunities at the asset manager. De Vries was previously managing director, head of quantitative analytics and risk at Dymon Asia Capital in Singapore. He brings with him more than 20 years of professional experience worldwide with organisations including ABN AMRO Bank, Shinsei Bank and Nomura International.

Fidelity International appointed former senior BlackRock manager Doug Walls as head of product development for its Asia-Pacific and Japan operations, adding to moves to expand its products for clients in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Australia, Singapore, Japan and Korea. Walls is based in Hong Kong. He works with Mike Nikou, managing director of Fidelity International, who is responsible for the company’s wholesale business in Asia-Pacific, and with Judy Marlinski, president Japan. He reports to Paolo Federici, global head of product at Fidelity International. All existing product teams in the Asia-Pacific and Japan region report to Walls in this newly created role. Walls has over 15 years’ experience in product development in the asset management sector. At BlackRock, he was head of product strategy and innovation for Asia and Australia, based from Sydney.