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Summary Of Asia-Pacific Executive Moves - November 2020
Editorial Staff
22 December 2020
Asia-Pacific Wealth Management Industry Moves – November 2020 BNP Paribas Wealth Management appointed Edmund Shing as chief investment officer; he took over from Florent Bronès, who moved to another role at a charitable organisation. Shing has more than 21 years of experience in financial markets in a variety of positions in a number of financial institutions in Europe. Since 2015, he has been the global head of equity and derivative strategy at BNP Paribas in London.
Finantix made a number of top-level hires in Asia-Pacific. It appointed Frances Ng and Lawrence Yin as regional sales directors, and Clarisa Ele as Asia-Pacific staffing manager. Ng and Ele are based in Singapore and Yin is in Hong Kong. Before joining Finantix, Ng spent over five years overseeing regional sales at Experian and Swiss banking software provider, ERI Bancaire. She has worked in software and the technology sector covering South East Asia sales activities for more than 15 years. Yin, covering the Greater China region, has over 15 years of experience working across the banking, asset management and technology industries. He began his career with Macquarie Bank in Australia which eventually brought him to Hong Kong. Prior to joining Finantix, he led business development efforts for MioTech, a Hong Kong FinTech start-up, working with asset management and private bank clients globally. Before MioTech, Yin held a series of sales positions at Moody’s Investors Services, eVestment (a Nasdaq company) and AxiomSL.
Hired to oversee talent acquisition for Finantix in Asia-Pacific, Ele has more than 15 years of experience in the field of technology recruitment across banking, insurance, internet, e-commerce and fintech. Technology has been her domain since she began her recruitment career in 2001.
SANNE, which provides alternative asset and corporate business services, promoted Rubina Toorawa to the role of country head, Mauritius. She had previously been the firm's chief operating officer for the jurisdiction.
Mavis Huang was hired as a relationship manager for Vontobel Asset Management in Hong Kong to support global and regional private banks. Huang had a similar RM role at DWS, where she oversaw relationships with local and global private banks and wealth management platforms. Before that she was in business development focused on Greater China at Income Partners Asset Management.
Bordier & Cie, the private bank, named Victoria Wu as Swiss head of Asia. Working alongside Josef Stauber, she develops the Asia-Pacific market from Zurich. She joined the Geneva-based firm in early September. Wu is fluent in Mandarin, English, German and French. She has worked in corporate banking for 14 years, chiefly as head of an origination team for trade finance and structured finance at ING. In 2008, she joined Credit Suisse’s APAC team, where she helped drive APAC business growth over the past 12 years.
Stauber, meanwhile, began his private banking career with Credit Suisse 10 years ago, also serving the APAC market. Stauber, who has lived in China and is fluent in Mandarin, English and French, also joined Bordier & Cie in September.
India-based Cervin Family Office & Advisors, a multi-family office, added Priya Ganesh as associate director and part of the senior team. Ganesh has more than 18 years’ experience in the financial services and family office space.
Indosuez Wealth Management in Asia made two new senior appointments in its Hong Kong SAR Branch. The appointees were Michael van Ommeren and Allan Dampier. Van Ommeren was appointed as chief operating officer. Reporting to Olivier Livenais, chief executive, he is responsible for enhancing the bank’s core functional and economic efficiency and driving its growth strategy in the region. Among his previous roles, he was COO and chief digital officer of ABN AMRO Bank, Hong Kong SAR and Shanghai. Dampier was named new head of anti-money laundering in the Hong Kong SAR branch. He reports to Chelsea Tong, head of compliance and central files in Hong Kong SAR. Prior to this, Dampier was with HSBC Asia Private Banking where he was head of Hong Kong Financial Crime Compliance and Asia Regional Business Governance.
Standard Chartered changed its structure, including private banking, combining that business with retail banking and wealth management. The bank also confirmed that Didier von Daeniken, who was made global head, private banking, in March 2016, is leaving. StanChart set out the structure and senior roles under its new Consumer, Private and Business Banking (CPBB) business and Asia region, as well as a major appointment in the Europe and Americas regions. The CPBB business, led by Judy Hsu, who is regional chief executive, ASEAN and South Asia (ASA), folded together retail banking, private banking and wealth management operations.
CPBB is organised around two client groups and two regions:
-- Vishu Ramachandran, leading personal and business banking;
-- Judy Hsu, leading private and priority banking until a permanent appointment is made;
-- Samir Subberwal, leading CPBB for the Asia region;
-- Kariuki Ngari, leading CPBB for Africa, the Middle East and Europe, in addition to his CEO Kenya and East Africa responsibilities, until a permanent appointment could be made; and
-- Rosalind Ng, leads client experience and strategic business enablement.
Wealth Management continues to be led by Marc Van de Walle. Vishu, Samir, Kariuki, Rosalind and Marc, are members of Judy Hsu’s CPBB Management Team.
The group’s new combined Asia region is led by Ben Hung, currently regional CEO, Greater China and North Asia. It brings together the lender’s ASEAN and South Asia (ASA), and Greater China and North Asia (GCNA) regions.
The cluster market CEOs are:
-- Jerry Zhang, Cluster CEO, China and Japan.
-- Mary Huen, Cluster CEO, Hong Kong, Taiwan & Macau.
-- Zarin Daruwala, Cluster CEO, India and South Asia Markets (Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka).
-- Andrew Chia, Cluster CEO, Indonesia and ASEAN Markets (Australia, Brunei and the Philippines).
-- Patrick Lee, Cluster CEO, Singapore and ASEAN Markets (Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand and Rep Offices).
-- Park Jong Bok, CEO, Korea.
-- Anthony Lin, CEO, Greater Bay Area.
Natixis Investment Managers made three appointments in Taiwan.
James Chen was appointed as general manager of Natixis IM Taiwan in July. Chloe Tai and Sophia Huang were appointed as associate directors of Natixis IM Taiwan, focusing on institutional investor business. Chen joined Natixis IM Taiwan as a director in 2009 and has nearly 20 years of experience in Taiwan’s wealth and asset management sectors. Prior to his current role, James was mainly responsible for developing Taiwan’s retail business. Tai, who joined the firm in November, brings her experience in the insurance sector and legal background to her new role. Prior to joining Natixis IM, she was an investment manager at TransGlobe Life Insurance; before that, she worked as a legal manager at CDIB Capital Group, a leader in venture capital business in Taiwan. Huang, who joined Natixis in Singapore in 2004, was appointed as institutional associate director in March this year. Prior to her current role, she was a customer service manager for over a decade in Taiwan.
BlackRock appointed Celia Yan to the newly-created post of head of China for its Asian private credit team. Yan assumef the role of co-portfolio manager for private credit investments across Asia-Pacific and will help build out BlackRock’s regional private credit platform. Based in Hong Kong, she will be part of the Asian credit leadership team, reporting to Neeraj Seth, BlackRock’s Singapore-based head of Asian credit. Yan was previously head of Greater China with ADM Capital. Before joining ADM Capital in 2011, Yan worked for National Australia Bank in Melbourne, where she advised on complex investment solutions and risk analysis.
Allfunds, the fund distribution platform appointed Amaury Dauge as chief financial officer. Based in Madrid, Dauge is part of the firm’s executive committee and reports to Juan Alcaraz, chief executive. Prior to this, Dauge worked at Qontigo, the intelligence technology firm, where he recently served as CFO and chief operating officer; before that, he was president and CFO of Axioma, a risk analytics business. Previously, Dauge was group CFO at Euronext where he led the financial and legal carve-out of the company from NYSE Euronext and its subsequent initial public offering.
Nomura is building a team of wealth management professionals in Asia and has hired a number of senior bankers. The joiners were Brahjesh Jha, who had been Thailand desk head at BNP Paribas; Mohit Gupta, Non-Resident India desk head at the French banking group; Guarav Gupta, also a former NRI desk head in BNP Paribas, and Prashanth Nithianantham, a NRI relationship manager.
RBC Wealth Management named a new head of investments for its International and Asia business - Juan Aronna. Prior to this, Aronna, was head of investments and products for Asia only. Aronna reports to Maarten Jansen, who is head, investments and trading. Aronna leads wealth management investment teams in the UK and Asia. In the UK, he will be primarily accountable for increasing the penetration of investment products with new and existing RBC clients. As part of the change, Aronna remains in Hong Kong until he is able to relocate to the UK in about May 2021.
Aronna has more than 20 years’ experience in the financial services industry, joining RBC six years ago, initially based in Singapore and more recently Hong Kong. As head of investment solutions and products, Asia, he is responsible for the discretionary portfolio management unit as well as all products, risk and governance, and the execution desk. Prior to his role at RBC, Aronna was head of investment management for Singapore at UBS.
Enid Yip left the board of Brazil-Switzerland’s Bank J Safra Sarasin. Yip left the private bank’s board after less than a year. She joined the bank in February 2020 and was one of the most high-profile female private bankers in a traditionally male-dominated field. In 2007, Yip first joined Bank Sarasin (as it was called at the time), having previously been head of Credit Suisse's Hong Kong branch.
Oversea Chinese Banking Corporation appointed Wilson He as managing director of its wholly-owned stockbroking subsidiary, OCBC Securities Pte Ltd. He joined during Singapore’s 'circuit breaker' period when the company was dealing with the changes brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. He has more than 17 years’ experience in the financial services industry, especially in the area of digitalising securities trading.
Investment firm T Rowe Price added two people to its Australian equities investment capability and client support team. The appointees are based in Sydney. Nick Vidale joined as an investment analyst, bringing more than 20 years of investment experience across the financials, industrials and consumer sectors in Australia and Asia. He is responsible for identifying investment opportunities in the financial sector for the firm’s Australian investment team, reporting to the team’s head of research, Ryan Martyn. David de Ferranti joined as a portfolio analyst in T Rowe Price’s Investment Specialist Group, a team within the investment division dedicated to handling the flow of information between clients and portfolio managers. He reports to Nick Beecroft, Hong Kong-based head of ISG, Asia-Pacific. Most recently, Vidale was a senior equities analyst at Perpetual, covering the Australian banks, diversified financials, property developers, gaming and industrials sectors. Prior to Perpetual, Vidale was a portfolio manager at GLG Partners in Hong Kong covering Asian financials.
Dr Winson Ng, until recently a member of UBS Global Wealth Management’s private markets due diligence team, joined the senior leadership team of Moonfare, a private equity investment platform, as chief investment officer. At UBS and in senior roles at GIC, Dr Ng oversaw large allocations to growth, middle market and large cap buyout funds as well as investments in funds focused on mezzanine capital, credit, infrastructure and venture capital. Dr Ng, based in London, partners with managing director Magnus Grufman to drive the continued growth of Moonfare’s fund offering, which is expanding rapidly from private equity into new asset classes.
A former chief executive of vacuum machine business Dyson, Jim Rowan, was named as senior advisor to Kohlberg Kravis Roberts’ Asia private equity team. Rowan led Dyson as its CEO between 2017 and 2020, a period in which he accelerated the company’s e-commerce strategy and built it out as a global brand. He joined Dyson in 2012 as its chief operating officer. Prior to Dyson, he was the COO of BlackBerry and a senior executive at Flextronics.
Barings appointed a new chairman and CEO, replacing Tom Finke, who was appointed to join the board of US-listed Invesco. Mike Freno, the new Barings CEO and president, took up the role. Freno, who worked at Barings for more than 15 years, is a member of Barings’ senior leadership team, the board of directors and is chairman of Barings BDC.
BNP Paribas Securities Services launched a new agency securities lending desk in Hong Kong. The new desk focuses on Asian markets, complementing existing services offered via desks in Sydney, London and New York. The organisation, part of BNP Paribas, appointed Anthony McDonald to head up the Hong Kong Agency Securities Lending desk. In this newly-created role, McDonald concentrates on trading activities and developing services for institutional lenders and borrowers in the region. McDonald has worked in the equity finance segment for more than 20 years, starting his career in London before moving to Hong Kong where he joined from SEB. He has previously gained experience at RBS Trust Bank, Credit Suisse, Citigroup and Dresdner Kleinwort.
Credit Suisse named Marcus Slöör as market group head of the Philippines. Slöör took over from veteran private banker Christian Senn when he assumed his new responsibilities in early December. Senn returned to explore new opportunities at Credit Suisse in Switzerland following 15 years of building out its South Asia business from Singapore. His tenure included launching Thai operations in 2016 and opening the first Philippines office in 2018.