The latest moves, appointments and personnel changes in senior roles in the APAC wealth management sector.

DWS appointed long-serving senior employee Lee Tae-Young as representative director and CEO of DWS Asset Management (Korea) Company. 

Tae-Young, who reports to Vanessa Wang, head of APAC and head of APAC coverage for DWS, has worked at DWS for 23 years in a variety of positions. He succeeded Byun Hyun-Soo as RD and CEO of DWS Korea. Byun Hyun-Soo is continuing as chairman of DWS Korea during the transition period, and he will continue as head of liquid investment strategy for the South Korea business.

Manulife appointed Dr Hongjuan Liu as chief AI and data officer for Hong Kong and Macau. It also posted Mark Czajkowski, chief AI officer, Asia, to Hong Kong. Liu joined Manulife Hong Kong and Macau with more than 20 years of experience in AI, data strategy, analytics, and digital transformation across a variety of industries and geographies. Czajkowski, who was previously based in Singapore, has more than 20 years of experience spanning marketing, analytics, and AI centric strategy. 

The Hong Kong Academy for Wealth Legacy (HKAWL), led by chairman Dr Adrian Cheng, made four appointments to its board of directors: Daryl Ng Win Kong and Philip Sohmen were appointed as vice chairmen, joined by Ronald Chan Wai-yan and Winnie Chiu Wing-kwan as new board members.

JAR Capital Group, a Switzerland-headquartered holding company bringing together independent wealth management firms across MENA and Asia, appointed Francois R Farjallah as vice chairman of the board of directors. Farjallah joined from EFG Bank AG, where he served as head of private banking and head of the Middle East from 2021 to 2025. Prior to EFG, Farjallah was global head of Middle East and Africa at CA Indosuez Wealth Management from 2016 to 2021. 

Barclays appointed Adrish Ghosh as head of Barclays Private Bank for India. Based in Mumbai, Ghosh had served as interim head of Private Bank, India since August last year. Prior to this, he was head of distribution for Private Bank India, where he helped to strengthen client engagement, supporting the continuing growth of the business.

Chubb Life appointed Jack Jiang as chief commercial officer, reporting directly to Bryce Johns, president of Chubb Life and senior vice president, Chubb Group. Jiang is responsible for Chubb Life’s overall growth strategy across its Greater China markets scaling the firm’s profile, presence, and business impact in the Greater Bay Area. Jiang has more than two decades of life insurance experience, most recently serving as deputy general manager of AIA China and general manager of the Guangdong branch.

FNZ appointed Peter Hiom as group head of Asia-Pacific, in addition to his role as group head of markets. He is based in Sydney. Before FNZ, he served as deputy CEO at ASX. He has replaced Anthony Habis, who was appointed as group head of North America.

Prudential Hong Kong appointed Alex Wong as chief information technology officer (CITO) for Hong Kong and Macau, and concurrently as regional CITO for Greater China. Wong has over three decades’ industry experience and led multi-disciplinary technology teams in Hong Kong and across Asia.

Allianz Global Investors appointed Julie Koo as distribution head for Asia-Pacific. Koo is based in Hong Kong and reports to Tobias Pross, CEO of Allianz Global Investors. She replaced Desmond Ng who departed the firm a year ago.

Kei Ohashi was appointed as head of investment management at Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Asset Management, based in its London office.

PGIM appointed David Fassbender as head of Asia-Pacific for its real estate business, based in Tokyo. Fassbender succeeded Benett Theseira, who retired following a 36-year career in real estate, including 15 years at PGIM. 

International law firm Simmons & Simmons hired partner Chris Studebaker for its dispute resolution practice in Asia. Studebaker joined from IBM Japan where he was a general counsel. 

Thailand’s SCBX Group, which has a joint venture with Switzerland’s Julius Baer, appointed Sarut Ruttanaporn as new CEO of Siam Commercial Bank. The change happened after the group said that Kris Chantanotoke had finished his contract term and did not renew it.

HSBC in Singapore appointed two figures to strengthen its “China corridor proposition”: Ying Wang as distribution head for International Wealth and Premier Banking (IWPB) and Irene Zeng as managing director and business development head, China Corridor in its Corporate and Institutional Banking (CIB) division.

Bank of Singapore appointed a former HSBC Private Bank figure, Eng Chien Chan, as market group head, Greater China. He reports to Rickie Chan, head of private banking, Greater China, and CEO of the Hong Kong branch at BoS. With close to 30 years in the banking industry, Chan previously worked as market head for Taiwan and co-head for offshore China at HSBC Private Bank in Singapore.