Barings Steps Up Asia-Pacific Wealth Management Ambitions

Editorial Staff

29 August 2023

, the investment house with $351 billion in assets, has appointed Aaron Thirukumar and Sabrina Kwek as director for institutional sales and senior director for wealth distribution respectively.

Thirukumar and Kwek are responsible for developing and managing client relationships and raising capital across the institutional channel in Australia and wealth channel in Southeast Asia, respectively. Thirukumar is based in Sydney and reports to Michael Gaffney, head of distribution for Australia and New Zealand; while Kwek is based in Singapore and reports to Lydia Wu, head of distribution for Greater China and Southeast Asia.

Thirukumar has more than a decade of experience from Dimensional Fund Advisors in Sydney, where he was regional director and vice president for the institutional business, Barings said.

Kwek, who also brings over 20 years of experience, is joinings Barings from Allianz Global Investors in Singapore, where she was director in the private banking business for Greater China and Southeast Asia. Kwek previously worked at Mirae Asset Global Investments, Robeco and Credit Suisse in Hong Kong and Singapore.

Among recent moves, Lydia Wu was recently appointed head of distribution for Greater China and Southeast Asia, assuming expanded responsibilities to cover the institutional, wealth and retail channels in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore and Southeast Asia.

Expansion
Barings said that it intends to hire more staff in institutional, wealth and retail businesses in Australia, Greater China and Southeast Asia.

The business has also acquired Altis Property Partners and Gryphon Capital Partners Pty in Australia to expand the structured finance and real estate capabilities of the firm in the region.