The pace of hires and moves in Asia picked up in March, as far as the newsflow of such changes appeared to be the case.

Bank of Singapore appointed Teresa Lee, formerly of Standard Chartered, as market head for Greater China.  Lee is based in Hong Kong and reports to Sermon Kwan, Bank of Singapore’s Hong Kong branch chief executive and global market head of Greater China. At Standard Chartered, Lee was managing director, private banking for Hong Kong.

BlackRock melded Asia and global emerging market groups to great a “truly global GEM platform”. As part of the change, leadership for GEM strategies moved to Asia. Emerging market teams are led by Belinda Boa, as chief investment officer of emerging markets, fundamental active equity. She remained as head of active investments for Asia-Pacific, covering active equities, fixed income and multi-asset. Andrew Swan, who is head of Asian equities, became head of Asian and global emerging markets equities, with Gordon Fraser, a portfolio manager in the global emerging market equity team, and moved to Hong Kong from London to assume portfolio management responsibilities alongside Swan for the Global Emerging markets Core portfolio. Both Swan and Boa are based in Hong Kong.

Savills Investment Management appointed Annie Li as associate director and portfolio manager at its Sydney branch. Li has spent more than 15 years in commercial real estate covering the Australian and New Zealand markets. She has experience in the office, industrial, retail and mixed-use sectors across acquisition, asset management, property management and debt financing, and has been involved in over A$1 billion ($765,565) of capital transactions. Prior to joining Savills IM, Li spent 10 years at GE Capital Real Estate.

A former portfolio boss at Falcon Private Bank in Singapore, Oliver Kuhn, took on a senior portfolio manager role at SingAlliance, an independent asset manager. In 2010, Kuhn joined Falcon Private Bank, Singapore, as the head of portfolio management, where he changed his career path from advisory to portfolio management. In 2011, he launched the Leveraged Emerging Market High Yield Bond discretionary mandates there for private clients.

HSBC planned to add up to around 1,000 new employees at its Chinese wealth management and retail banking arm this year, predominantly in the Pearl River Delta. Recruits joined an existing 2,400-strong retail and wealth management team.

Commonwealth Bank, the Australia-headquartered bank, appointed Rob Jesudason as chief financial officer. He took the helm from David Craig, who retired. Jesudason was group executive for international financial services. He joined the firm as head of strategy in 2011, and since 2014 has led the international financial services division, based out of Hong Kong.

Martyn Wild, the senior manager who runs the A$34 billion ($25.9 billion) of investments in Australia-based Westpac’s wealth management arm, left the lender, following allegations about inappropriate behaviour towards two female staff.

Chubb, the US-based insurer which provides wealth management services, appointed Michael Ho as country president for Chubb Life, the life insurance division of Chubb, in Hong Kong. Ho joined Chubb from Prudential Asia, where he most recently served as regional chief agency officer, responsible for building and developing the regional agency capabilities in Asia. In his role at Chubb Life, Ho is responsible for leading the Hong Kong operations for Chubb Life, which provides a broad range of life insurance and wealth management services.

Australia-listed AMP Capital rejigged its leadership, affecting its business in Asia and elsewhere. As part of the changes, the chief investment officer for global equities and fixed income left the company. Craig Keary, AMP Capital director of Australia and New Zealand, became AMP Capital director, Asia-Pacific. Keary retained responsibility for Australia and New Zealand and assume leadership of AMP Capital’s operations in Beijing, Hong Kong and Tokyo.

Anthony Fasso, AMP Capital director, Asia, and global head of portfolio strategy based in Hong Kong, moved home to Australia after 23 years in the region, including seven with AMP Capital. He retained his portfolio strategy responsibilities and remained on the AMP Capital leadership , based in Melbourne. In this role, Fasso continued to focus on opportunities to accelerate AMP Capital’s growth through targeted mergers and acquisitions.

Simon Warner, head of global fixed income in Sydney, and London-based David Allen, global head of equities, were promoted to the role of global chief investment officer for their respective asset classes and will sit on the AMP Capital leadership team, reporting to CEO Adam Tindall. Mark Beardow, AMP Capital CIO of global equities and fixed income, left the business.

Chris Tang joined Standard Chartered as executive director, investment advisory, private banking. Tang reports to Barry Chan, head of investment advisory, private banking, Hong Kong. A figure in the industry for more than 20 years, working in client advisory and investment, Tang has worked at financial institutions including Credit Suisse Private Bank, Citi Private and HSBC Private Bank. He also has a background in multi-asset investment, and foreign exchange and equity products. Most recently, Tang was the head of active advisory North Asia in Bank of Singapore, and prior to that, Barclays.

DBS's regional head of eBusiness, Sandeep Lal, was concurrently appointed as group head of digital bank. He continues to report to Pearlyn Phau, deputy group head of consumer banking and wealth management. Lal joined DBS in 2008, and has more than 30 years of experience in the banking and digital payments space. Before joining DBS, he was regional head for PayPal - and started with PayPal from its startup days in the US in 2000. Prior to that, he worked with Citibank for 18 years in various senior roles and was based in Singapore, New York, Japan and India. As part of the change, Lal replaced Olivier Crespin who left the bank to pursue a new role in another organisation outside Singapore.

Chris Mueller stepped down from his role at Standard Chartered’s private bank as global head of investment advisory. He was based in Singapore. Mueller’s role wasn’t replaced because the reporting structure at the bank has changed, making his old position redundant. Mueller was at Standard Chartered for just over two years. Previously, he held the role of head, investment advisory, Asia, at Julius Baer, from November 2013 to February 2015.

Simon Kastono, managing director and market leader of Indonesia at Credit Suisse, left the Zurich-listed bank. In 2015, Kastono was promoted to sector co-head of Indonesia, at the time working alongside Torsten Linke.

Kam Shing Kwang was made the new Asia chief executive at JP Morgan Private Bank, replacing Andrew Cohen to be the Asia CEO. She retained her role as the senior country officer for JP Morgan Hong Kong, to which she was appointed in 2015. She reports to Cohen, who is the CEO for the international private bank of JP Morgan. In previous roles, Kwang was managing director and market manager for Hong Kong, China and sponsors, the Philippines and Thailand.

J Safra Sarasin appointed Vinay Gandhi as managing director and chief executive of its newly-created Ultra High Net Worth Asia division, joining the Switzerland-headquartered firm from its Alpine state rival, UBS. Gandhi reports to Enid Yip, CDO for Asia. He is based in Singapore, J Safra Sarasin.

Gandhi worked at UBS from January 2010, leading a team of 150 people based in Singapore and Hong Kong, serving UHNW clients in Southeast Asia, primarily in Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand, as well as global NRI clients. Prior to joining UBS, he served as MD and headed the South Asian business for Deustche Bank's private banking division in Singapore. Gandhi has held senior management positions with leading private banks such as Citigroup Private Bank and Commerzbank in Asia.

Nick Hughes, a headhunter who worked in Singapore in the wealth and financial services industry, relocated to Gibraltar to found a recruitment start-up, Eulat Consulting. Hughes has worked in financial markets recruitment for 17 years.

Julius Baer brought in a pair of managers from Deutsche Bank in Asia. Ancus Mak was appointed director in the chief investment office for Asia, reporting to Asia chief investment officer Bhaskar Laxminarayan. Mak is based in Hong Kong. Meanwhile, Olive Wang joined as a director in the fund specialists Hong Kong team, reporting to Johann Santer, who heads that team. Wang is based in Hong Kong and was previously a fund specalist at Deutsche Bank Wealth Management. Prior to that, she worked at EFG Bank (HK). Previously, Mak was vice president, global products and solutions with a focus on discretionary portfolio management in the Asia-Pacific region.

Standard Chartered appointed a former senior private banker in Hong Kong from Credit Suisse. Phoebe Chow, who was a team leader at Credit Suisse in Singapore, moved to the
UK-listed bank, holding the role of managing director, Philippines & Taiwan Market. Sources had also told this publication about her departure from the Swiss lender.

Indosuez Wealth Management, the global wealth management group, appointed Leong Loo Lim Lynda as senior director of its Singapore operations. Leong spent the last 20 years working as a client advisor and private banker. Most recently, she worked with Julius Baer and UBS in Singapore and Taipei.

UBS appointed a new desk head of its Kowloon office in Hong Kong, Chris Ng, taking the helm from Michael Christo. Previously, Ng was head of banking products, Hong Kong, investment products and services.

Private Investments (Asia), an affiliate of Carret Asset Management, a New York-based investment manager, appointed two veteran wealth management professionals, David Lam and Calvin Hsu. Lam joined Carret Private Investments’ asset management subsidiary as chairman of its advisory board. With more than 34 years of experience in the financial industry, he has held a range of roles, most recently as head of North Asia for Coutts Private Bank and head of GAM for the Asia-Pacific region. Lam was educated in the US with a Bachelor’s degree in Economics and an MBA from the University of Southern California. He is based in Hong Kong. Hsu joined Carret Private Investments’ wealth management affiliate, QL Asset Management Company, as partner and head of Greater China. He brings over 28 years of experience with various international banks in Asia and the US. He spent much of his financial career working for Citibank, most recently as regional head for Citi Wealth Advisors and previously in senior wealth management roles at Salomon Smith Barney.
Equiom, an international trust and corporate services provider, appointed Derek Vaz as its deputy global chief financial officer. Vaz has more than 20 years' experience in the financial services industry and has held numerous senior roles at Lloyds Banking Group and KPMG.

Former JP Morgan man Yoshiyuki Shimoyama was appointed as head of BNY Mellon Investment Management’s financial institutions group in Japan. Based in Tokyo, Shimoyama works on serving Japanese banks and insurance companies. He reports to Shogo Yamaguchi, chairman and president of BNY Mellon Asset Management (Japan), and Lindsay Wright, head of distribution and co-head of BNY Mellon Investment Management (Asia-Pacific). Shimoyama joined from JP Morgan Asset Management (Japan), where he has worked since 1990 upon joining Morgan Guaranty Trust Company of New York in Tokyo. His most recent roles at the firm include executive director and head of financial institutions sales and marketing; vice president of institutional sales and marketing; and head of pension funds.

Christie's, the global auction house, appointed Charlotte Liu as managing director of its China operations. Liu has more than two decades of international experience in the publishing, education, and consulting sectors. Throughout her career, she has worked in China, the US and Canada. Most recently, she was president of Greater China at Springer Nature, a global research and educational publisher, where she helped establish the company in the region.

Eaton Vance, a global asset manager, added a representative office in Tokyo. Tetsuo Kushiya has joined the firm from Mizuho Securities as a vice president and senior relationship manager in Asia-Pacific.

Credit Suisse gave wealth planning a more pivotal role within its Asia-Pacific private banking business with the addition of a dedicated team for ultra-wealthy clients. The unit, led by Bernard Fung, draws on the capabilities of the firm’s family office services and philanthropy advisory function as well as those of the trust and estate advisory team in Singapore. Team members include Pauline Khoo, head of trust and estate advisory in Singapore; Thomas Ang, who became head of family office services for Asia-Pacific; and Joost Bilkes, who assumed the role of head of responsible and impact investing for Asia-Pacific.

State Street Global Advisors promoted Cyrus Taraporevala, current global head of product and marketing, to a role overseeing all client- and consultant-facing marketing and product functions for its institutional clients. Prior to joining SSGA in April last year, Taraporevala worked with Fidelity Investments, where he led its retail managed accounts and life insurance and annuities business. Earlier in his career, he also spent stints at BNY Mellon Asset Management and Citigroup Global Investment Management. In total, he has more than 25 years' experience in asset management.