June was a busy month for high-profile private banking moves in the Asia region, with key appointments at firms such as Pictet, Royal Bank of Canada and Rothschild Wealth Management, among others.

Simon Lowth stepped down from his position as independent non-executive director and chair of the board financial crime risk committee at Standard Chartered. Lowth will leave at the end of July after six years on the board to focus his time on his new role as group finance director at BT Group. He stepped down as chief financial officer and executive director of BG Group in February this year following its takeover by Royal Dutch Shell. He was an executive director and CFO of AstraZeneca from 2007 to 2013.

Chew Kia Seng, a managing director at Pictet, left the business in Singapore.

Thirdrock Group, the wealth management house, appointed Eric Goh as investment strategist and senior client advisor. In prior roles, Goh was head of investors for Southeast Asia at JP Morgan Private Wealth Management and head of investment advisory at BNP Paribas Wealth Management. He has also held similar roles in multi-asset class advisory at UBS Wealth Management, HSBC Private Bank, as well as FX sales and advisory in Republic National Bank of New York and DBS Private Bank.

Carlyle Group, the US-headquartered private equity firm, hired a former senior Johnson & Johnson executive to advise on investing in China’s healthcare sector. Jesse Wu became a senior advisor to Carlyle’s Asian buyout fund, helping to unearth deals for the US private equity firm and boost its portfolio companies in the healthcare industry. Wu previously ran Johnson & Johnson’s operations in China.

PineBridge Investments appointed Maggie Zhao as managing director, business development, and Leo Li as vice president, institutional development. Based in Hong Kong, the pair joined from Amundi, where Zhao was head of China client coverage and development and Li was vice president, China business development. In her new role, Zhao leads a four-person business development team, focusing on China, Hong Kong, Macau and the Philippines. She reports to Rajeev Mittal, the firm's Asia chief executive, while Li reports to her.

David Harvey, the London-based chief executive of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners, stepped down from the post. He had been at the helm since 2001, during which time STEP has gone from around 6,500 members to over 20,000, including lawyers, accountants and other trust and estate specialists.

Standard Life Investments appointed Mitsuo Ohara as head of institutional sales for Japan, based in Tokyo. The role is a new one for the UK-headquartered firm. Ohara is responsible for developing and broadening key relationships across the financial institution, pension and consultant segments. He reports to Neil Slater, chief executive and representative director of Standard Life Investments in Japan. He brings over 30 years of experience in asset management and banking to the 11-strong Japan team. He was previously head of sales and client services at Northern Trust Global Investment in Japan.

Bedell Cristin, the offshore law firm, appointed Kristian Wilson as partner in its Singapore office. Wilson joined the firm in June 2013. He qualified as a solicitor (England and Wales) at Slaughter and May in both London and Paris before practising offshore law in Jersey and the BVI. He is also a qualified BVI lawyer and his practice includes corporate and financial matters, with a focus on joint ventures, private equity and cross-border transactions. 

Rothschild Wealth Management appointed Audrey Zau as head of wealth management for Asia and Mike Hue as head of wealth management for Singapore. Zau joined Rothschild last year as head of wealth management, North Asia, and is based in Hong Kong. She was previously head of wealth management, North Asia, for BHI Investment Advisors. In the newly-created role, she is responsible for the leadership of the enlarged team.

Hue joined from ABN Amro Private Bank, where he was most recently senior business manager and, before that, head of special products. He joined the bank in 2009 and is also an adjunct wealth management lecturer at Singapore Management University. Hue took on some of Elizabeth Hart’s responsibilities. Hart previously headed up the Singapore office and is moving to Zurich as a senior client advisor. Hue also serves as a senior client advisor, alongside Tang Kai Meng, who joined the Singapore team with around 20 years’ experience in private banking and wealth management at firms including Deutsche Bank, Citigroup, SG Private Banking and OUB. Hue and Tang report to Zau.

Australia and New Zealand Banking Group appointed a new chief compliance officer, Michael Liarakos. He took over from Mark Evans, who has been named managing director for transaction banking. Liarakos reports to group chief risk officer Nigel Williams. The new CCO has more than 30 years’ experience in audit, risk and compliance roles. He has been group general manager for internal audit since 2008.

One of the senior Asia-based figures at Indosuez Wealth Management left the firm. Norbert Joué, who was head of market and investment solutions, and based in Singapore, left after being in the post for less than 12 months. He was previously deputy head of private banking at Geneva-headquartered Lombard Odier.

Vontobel extended its wealth management offerings to the Australian market. Starting from the beginning of June, Vontobel’s advisory services and individual investment solutions are open for Australia-domiciled clients. The new team is led by Bernhard Breiter, who joined Vontobel Private Banking in Zurich. He spent 15 years at UBS serving the Australian market, including two years in its representative office in Sydney. (UBS in Australia has recently been spun off by the Swiss group into a separate entity via a management buyout, and renamed as Crestone.) Breiter reports to Alex Fung, head of Vontobel Wealth Management Asia-Pacific, who is based in Hong Kong. 

Schroders said one of its senior figures in the region, Lieven Debruyne, was appointed as Asia-Pacific chief executive. Debruyne, who has been country head for Hong Kong, joined Schroders’ group management committee. He replaced Richard Mountford who has been in the CEO role since September 2012. Chris Durack, meanwhile, became country head of Hong Kong. He also took on the role of head of institutional business, Asia-Pacific, from Sydney-based Greg Cooper. Durack joined Schroders’ Sydney office in 2011 as the head of product and distribution and relocated to Hong Kong in February 2016 to take on the role of head of distribution.

In another change, Singapore-based Showbhik Kalra, head of product for Asia-Pacific, assumed added responsibility as head of intermediary business, Asia-Pacific; a role that was previously held by Debruyne.

Schroders also appointed a former Nomura top executive as country head for Japan, as his predecessor stepped down. It named Shigesuke Kashiwagi to the post, taking effect from the start of July. He has 34 years of industry experience to the role. At Nomura, Kashiwagi was executive managing director, chief financial officer since April 2013. During his career at the firm, he held a number of senior management roles in Tokyo, New York and London. Prior to being CFO, Kashiwagi served as senior MD of group strategy and executive office with particular focus on regulatory strategy, as president and CEO of Nomura Holdings America, and as head of global fixed income.

The asset management head of Deutsche Bank, Germany’s largest bank, left after taking medical leave for two months. Quentin Price stepped down from the role in the middle of June. Price told colleagues in mid-April that he required a period of medical leave. After discussing the matter with his doctors, he said he would not be able to reassume his role.

Swiss International Asset Management appointed Peter Krismer as a partner at the firm in Hong Kong. Krismer started at the firm this month. Previously, he was managing director at BSI Bank, part of Switzerland-domiciled BSI in Hong Kong. He was at BSI from October 2010 to April this year, according to his LinkedIn profile. From March 2008 to July 2010, he worked at Coutts in Hong Kong as a senior client partner. He was at Coutts in Zurich from 1989 to March 2008.

Australia-headquartered AMP Capital appointed Andrew Quade as head of its industrial section in the asset management group. Quade leads the industrial property asset and development management team at AMP Capital. He came from the firm’s development team. Before working at AMP, he held roles at Lend Lease and GPT, working on a number of large projects in Australia.

Morgan Stanley Wealth Management, part of US banking group Morgan Stanley, appointed a former UBS director of wealth planning in Australia, Lisa Houlford. Houlford started at the US firm as head of financial planning on 20 June. She chose to leave soon-to-be UBS Wealth Management spin-off Crestone. Houlford joined UBS in 2010.

Ashley Dale stepped down from his position as chief marketing officer and head of international business development at Mirae Asset Global Investments in Hong Kong. Dale, who was with the company for seven years, led the business development and distribution of cross-border mutual fund products in Asia-Pacific, Europe and the Middle East. He previously served as chief executive at UK-based fund anager Morgan Dale Capital and as head of UK and European sales at CLSA, an equity broker and investment firm. Following his departure, MAGI (Hong Kong)’s president and CEO, Jung Ho Rhee, took on some of Dale's CMO responsibilities. He also leads the international sales teams of MAGI (Hong Kong) and MAGI (UK).

Fintech Australia, Australia’s national fintech trade association, appointed a prominent figure from the country’s media world to be its chief executive. Danielle Szetho was formerly banking and finance industry head for Fairfax Media. At Fairfax, she led initiatives in that firm’s publishing, content marketing and data divisions.

Canada-headquartered multi-asset trading firm OANDA appointed Kazuaki Takabatake as managing director and chief executive for the Asia-Pacific region, based in Singapore. Takabatake has 25 years’ experience in the industry. He took over from Rajesh Yohannan, who moved to other endeavours. Takabatake previously worked for Saxo Capital Markets.

GF International Investment Management appointed Chen Hao as chief investment officer, based in Hong Kong. He reports to Tom Ding, GFI’s chief executive. Ding previously held the CIO role. The move allows him to focus on developing GFI’s coverage of mainland China and overseas.

Withers, the law firm, hired Mahesh Kumar as a partner in its Singapore office, joining from the Singapore office of Nishith Desai Associates, an Indian firm. At the latter firm, Kumar headed the international tax, private client and globalisation practice.

US-listed SS&C Technologies Holdings, which operates in sectors such as fintech for wealth management, appointed Rainer Fuchsluger as managing director, Asia for the firm’s institutional and investment management business. Fuchsluger is based in Hong Kong. He reports to Christy Bremner, general manager at SS&C's institutional and investment management division.

Stephenson Harwood appointed Erik Wallace from Withers as a partner within its private wealth team in Hong Kong. Wallace joined from Withers, where he has been a partner since 2006, advising high net worth families on all aspects of US taxation and estate planning. 

Pictet’s banking operation in Asia appointed a new chief executive, Dominique Jooris. Jooris is the new CEO of Bank Pictet & Cie (Asia), the Pictet Group’s private banking entity in Singapore. Claude Haberer, CEO Asia-Pacific, Pictet Wealth Management‎, had been supervising directly Pictet Wealth Management's activities in South and Southeast Asia since the departure of the previous local CEO in October 2015. In addition to his regulatory functions as CEO, Jooris leads development of private wealth management for South and Southeast Asia. He reports to Haberer. Previously, Jooris worked at Goldman Sachs.

Beijing-based Industrial and Commercial Bank of China named Yi Huiman as its new chairman. Yi stays in his previous role of president, pending a replacement. He replaced Jiang Jianqing, who retired as chairman.

The Asian wealth management business of Royal Bank of Canada was brought under the leadership of the bank’s international head of wealth management, Stuart Rutledge, as part of a change at the top. Barend Janssens, head, RBC Wealth Management – Asia, retired. Peter Corry took on his role, based in Singapore, and reports to Rutledge.