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Summary Of Executive Moves In Asia-Pacific Wealth Management - January 2014

10 February 2014

Australia

Joe Hockey, the treasurer of the Commonwealth of Australia, announced the appointment of four members to the Financial System Inquiry panel, which include some senior wealth management figures. Chaired by David Murray, chief executive, the panel now seats Professor Kevin Davis of the University of Melbourne, Craig Dunn, CEO for AMP, Carolyn Henson, former Schroders director, and Dr Brian McNamee, former CEO of CSL. In a statement, the firm said the choices reflect the importance of the wealth management industry to the economy's growth.

SFG Australia announced that Tony Fenning, managing director and chief executive, temporary left the company in 23 December 2013 and is expected to return in late January 2014, without citing reasons. John Cowan, chief operating officer, had stepped in as interim CEO.

Zurich Financial Services Australia named Andy Marshall as head of sales strategies and research, life risk, responsible for developing, promoting and distributing the firm's life insurance service in the country. Marshall previously the regional manager for life risk in Victoria, replaced Marc Fabris, who was promoted to the global role of head of new distribution.

Wilson HTM Investment Group announced changes to its senior management ranks following the departure of Karen Penrose from the chief financial officer and company secretary roles. Don Mackenzie took over as company secretary. Meanwhile, Philippa Abbott continues as assistant company secretary, while Todd Curby and Shaun Sanders retain their roles as joint group financial controllers. Penrose's departure was first announced in August 2013 when AWE Limited announced it was taking her in as an independent non-executive director.

NAB Asset Servicing named Peter Hele as its new business development head for Australia and New Zealand. Hele has been with NAB for 14 years and previously served as a member of the asset servicing team. He reports to Suzanne Smith, general manager for sales and relationships.

Kardinia Capital hired former Nomura Australia executive Peter Lucas as a portfolio manager, to work alongside current managers Mark Burgess and Kristiaan Rehder. The now three-person team manages the Bennelong Kardinia Absolute Return Fund, a long/short Australian equity product for which Bennelong is the responsible entity.

Melbourne-based OC Funds Management announced the appointment of John Clothier as general manager of distribution, after serving on the advice network of BT Financial. In this role, he is responsible for leading and building a new sales team and for introducing the Odey International Fund for the Australian retail market.

Australia and New Zealand wealth manager AMP named Helen Livesey to the newly-created role of director for brand and marketing to boost consumer engagement. Livesey assumed the role after holding a number of position within the firm for the past 15 years. She is credited for leading the development and introduction of the company's new logo in 2011.

China
Chinese wealth manager Noah Holdings added Zhiwu Chen to its board as independent director. Chen was a professor of finance at Yale University and also sits as independent non-executive director at Bank of Communications and Lord Abbett China Asset Management. With this appointment, he becomes part of Noah's corporate governance and nominating committee, replacing Ji Liu who has resigned.

Newedge, the joint venture between Societe Generale and Credit Agricole, welcomed Eric Shi as its new commodities head in China. Shi rejoined the firm after a two-year stint as global head of commodities at BOC International. Before that, he led Newedge's energy business in China for eight years. Based in New York, he now reports to Robert Vujtech, global co-head of energy.

HSBC Bank bolstered its China business with the hire of Montgomery Ho as deputy chief executive and executive director. Ho has been with the company since 1983 and has since held key management positions. He replaced Chris Davies, who is now the CEO international of the bank.

State Street, the global investment management firm, expanded its range of alternative investment solutions with the opening of a new office in Shanghai. The new branch reports to Eric Chow, head of relationship management for the AIS unit in Asia-Pacific.

Hong Kong
PineBridge Investments hired industry veteran Stephan van Vliet for the newly-created role of head of insurance asset management based in Hong Kong. Van Vliet was previously the head of investments at ING Insurance Asia-Pacific. While his position is based in Hong Kong, his coverage is global. He reports to David Jian, global chief executive, and Rajeev Mittal, CEO of Asia.

ABN AMRO Private Banking added four senior private bankers to its team in Hong Kong. Aditya Jayarama is now regional head of private banking for North Asia, reporting to Ian Pollock. He joined the bank from Standard Chartered Bank in Singapore. Raymond Cheung joined in December as North Asia team head, after spending the past 11 years providing advice to clients in Greater China on business development, fund raising and financial planning. Reporting to Cheung is senior private banker Connie Lam, who moved from VP Bank. Steven Lee also joined the Greater China team as senior private banker, reporting to Angela Wu, market manager for China.

UK-headquartered Alquity Investment Management appointed Mike Sell as head of Asian equities. Sell joined from F& C Investments where he was a senior fund manager in the emerging markets equities team.

BNY Mellon named former news correspondent and presenter Kyoko Altman as head of Asia-Pacific communications and public relations for its investment business. This is a newly-created role made to highlight the US firm's efforts into the Asia-Pacific region. Based in Hong Kong, Altman is now part of the Asia-Pacific investment management executive committee and reports to Alan Harden, CEO for BNY Mellon Investment Management Asia-Pacific. She previously worked at Goldman Sachs Asset Management.

Global investment consulting firm Mercer bolstered its Hong Kong office with the hired of Adeline Tan as investment advisory head, responsible for advising clients on long-term investment strategy and portfolio construction. She reports to Deborah Bannon, investments business leader for Greater China. She joined from Towers Watson in London, where she managed a team specialising in fiduciary services.

Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management hired former BEA Union executive Elke Schoeppl-Jost as its new chief investment officer for Asia-Pacific. She replaced Chris Siniakov, who is leaving the firm. In her new role, Schoeppl-Jost will be based both in Hong Kong and Singapore and reports to Sean Taylor, head of emerging markets, and regionally to Ravi Raju, head of DeAWM in Asia-Pacific. She leads the active equity, fixed income and multi-asset investment teams in the region.

Herbert Smith Freehills, the international law firm, appointed Richard Norridge to lead its Asia private wealth practice. In this newly-created role, Norridge acts for high net worth individuals, their families, private banks and other advisors trust and probate issues, together with charitable and family company matters. He joined the firm in 2011 and has worked with Asia managing partner Mark Johnson and Hong Kong-based head of litigation Gareth Thomas to grow the private wealth practice.

UBS Wealth Management Hong Kong appointed Adeline Chien as managing director and country team head of HK Team 1. Chien succeeded Becky Li who will retire at the end of March this year. Li leaves the firm after having been at UBS since 2002. At the start of 2014, Vicki Lee, managing director, was named country team head of Hong Kong Team 6. As part of the changes, Francis Hung, desk head of HK Team 5, and his team, moved to the newly-created HK Team 6 and report to Vicki Lee. Both Chien and Lee report to Jean-Claude Humair, regional market manager for Hong Kong. Among other appointments, Yu-Kyung Whan, executive director, transferred from Ernst Schuler's team to head a new desk in HK Team 6, reporting to Lee. Henry Lau, executive director, joined from Shanghai Commercial Bank to head a new desk in HK Team 1. He reports to Chien.

Marcus Leese, who moved to Hong Kong in 2010 to establish the Ogier Channel Islands' practice in Asia, had returned to Guernsey after having been the first such lawyer to operate in Asia. In his change role, Leese divides his time between Guernsey and Hong Kong, as Asia will remain a key focus for him and for the firm. Richard Bennett, his associate lawyer in Hong Kong, continues to work with Leese in promoting Guernsey and will be available to assist Guernsey Finance, the island's promotional agency.

Coutts, the private bank, appointed two senior managers to newly-created roles at its products and services team in Asia. Eng Ming Hoe joined as executive director and head of treasury for Singapore, with responsibility for the strategic and risk management of the Singapore and Asia treasury desk balance sheets. Alex Ng was named executive director and head of foreign exchange, joining from Julius Baer in Singapore where he was director of foreign exchange advisor. Both report to Jonathan Lee, the head of treasury services and dealing in Asia.

Hong Kong-based REORIENT Group expanded its Asian equities arm with two key appointments. Jeremy Gray joined the firm as managing director from Standard Chartered, where he was the head of resources equity research. Andrew Mullins was named senior equity sales trader after serving as a senior Asian equity trader at Wellington Management, where he worked for 11 years.

JP Morgan Asset Management appointed Travis Spence as head of the global strategic relationship group for Asia-Pacific ex-Japan. Based in Hong ong, he now works with various teams while overseeing the regional and local client relationships in Asia. He reports to Jed Laskowitz, the Asia-Pacific CEO. His old role was filled by Paula Stibbe, managing director and client portfolio manager, who will relocate from New York to Hong Kong in early 2014.

The chief executive of Standard Life in Hong Kong, Roy Halliday, left the firm to go on gardening leave until 31 March 2014. In the meantime, his responsibilities were assumed by Neal Armstrong, who is also the current CEO in Singapore. Armstrong's own appointment change is subject to regulatory approval.

US global private equity manager Hamilton Lane strengthened its Asia business with the appointment of two senior executives. Mingchen Xia was named principal of the fund investment team, while Yen Li Chew became the vice president in the business development group. Both are based in Hong Kong. Xia was previously a fund manager at Tokio Marine, while Chew joined from Oaktree Capital, where she was VP for marketing and client relations.

International law firm Lathan & Watkins hired former Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer partner Howard Lam as partner for its finance department in Hong Kong. In this new role, Lam focuses on banking, cross-border debt restructuring and insolvency work and complex financing transactions. He also handles private equity funds and corporate in both Hong Kong and Mainland China.

Sun Life Hong Kong named Greg Kwan as its new chief financial officer to replace Hannah Chan, who has left. Kwan was previously the vice president for internal audit at Sun Life Financial Asia. He now reports to Wim Hekstra, CEO for Hong Kong. The company did not say to where Chan is moving.

DLA Piper bolstered its Hong Kong practise with the hire of Mark Fairbairn as head of restructuring for Asia. Fairbairn joined from O'Melveny & Myers and focuses on distressed and alternative investments, financial restructurings and insolvency matters. He was joined by Ashley Bell, also from O'Melveny, who was named counsel in the restructuring division.

US-based international law firm K&L Gates added Greg Heaton as partner to its Hong Kong investment management practice. Heaton joined from the Hong Kong office of Deacons, another law firm. In his new role, he will focus on investment management and financial services regulation. He is the fourth partner appointment into K&L Gates' Asia business in 2014.

India
Bank of America Merrill Lynch named former Goldman Sachs director Vikram Sahu as head of Southern Asia equity research, responsible for ASEAN and India equity strategy. He is based in Singapore. Meanwhile, Jyoti Jaipuria continues in his role as head of India equity research and as India equity strategist. He reports to Sahu and remains located in Mumbai. Ching Seng Tay was also named deputy head of ASEAN equity research, reporting to Sahu. He is based in Singapore covering ASEAN financials while supporting the equity strategy unit.

Japan
Mizuho Financial Group announced that, effective 1 April 2014, current deputy president and deputy president-executive Nobuhide Hayashi becomes the new president and CEO of the firm. He takes over from Yasuhiro Sato, who takes the role of director on the same date.

Nikko Asset Management announced that David Semaya will take over as the new chairman effective 1 April 2014. Semaya, who joins from Barclays, replaces Charles Beazley, who is stepping down in April for family-related reasons. Also newly-appointed is Takumi Shibata as president and CEO of Nikko AM. In addition to these roles, he continues as executive chairman until Semaya officially steps in.

Fullerton Asset Management, the Singapore-headquartered investment firm, named Fumio Izumi to lead the newly-opened office in Japan. Izumi is the representative director for the Japan business. He reports to Manraj Sekhon, the CEO and CIO based in Singapore. He is accompanied initially by one staff member.

BoA Merrill Lynch named Timothy Latimore as representative director and president of Merrill Lynch Japan Securities effective 1 February 2014. He also becomes the country executive for Japan. Latimore, who has been with the firm for 20 years, replaced Jiro Seguchi, who takes up a regional leadership role as head of Asia-Pacific global corporate and investment banking. The currenty deputy branch manager, Koichi Kagawa, was appointed acting branch manager of BoA in Tokyo.
Mizuho Financial Group announced that, effective 1 April 2014, current deputy president and deputy president-executive Nobuhide Hayashi becomes the new president and chief executive of the firm. He takes over from Yasuhiro Sato, who takes the role of director on the same date.

Nikko Asset Management boosted its sales team with the hire of three senior executives and a new investment head. Takuya Koyama was named global head of sales, responsible for global institutional sales and international retail sales. Hideyuki Omokawa is now head of strategic product innovation to oversee the development of products globally, while managing the interation between the sales and investment teams through a newly-established office of the chief investment officer. Motonobu Hasegawa is now global head of request for proposal, to lead a team of specialists in Japan and in overseas offices. In the investment management division, Yu-Ming Wang was appointed global head of investment, while Japan CIO Hiroki Tsujimura will continue to be responsible for investment management in the Tokyo branch. Omokawa's ang Wang's roles took effect in 31 January, while Koyama and Hasegawa joined officially in 1 February.
Singapore
The Monetary Authority of Singapore, the city-state's financial regulatory body, announced two reappointments to its board of directors. Lim Chee Onn, senior international advisor for Singbridge Private, and Peter Ong, permanent secretary of the Ministry of Finance, joined the now nine-member board. The MAS board is led by Tharman Shanmugaratnam, deputy prime minister of the Ministry of Finance, as chairman, and Lim Hng Kiang, minister of trade and industry, as deputy chairman.

Bank J Safra Sarasin bolstered its South East Asia business with the hire of Jennie Hananto as vice chair for client advisory in South East Asia. Hananto joined from BSI Bank, Singapore, where she served as deputy head of South East Asia since 2010. She reports to Eric Morin, CEO for the Singapore branch and South East Asia.

Pinsent Masons MPillay, the Singapore joint venture law partner of UK law firm Pinsent Masons, hired eight corporate lawyers from its local rival as part of efforts to further build its corporate practice in Asia. The lawyers, all from Singapore law firm KhattarWong, left amid a major restructuring within the firm. The exodus included Perry Yuan, head of corporate and securities, Kelvyn Oo and Bethia Su, partners, while the other five are junior associates. Yuan's old role at KhattarWong was assumed by Yoong Nim Chor.

Principal Real Estate Investors, the real estate investment arm of US-headquartered Principal Global Investors, appointed two portfolio managers to its Singapore arm. Shern-Ling Koh and Julian Mittag have take the responsibility for identifying investment opportunities in the Asia-Pacific region. Koh previously served as chief executive and chief investment officer at OSK International Asset Management, while Mittag joined from SEB Asset Management, where he was an Asia real estate securities portfolio manager.

UK-listed Aberdeen Asset Management promoted its Australian executive, Victor Rodriguez, to lead its Asia-Pacific fixed income business. Rodriguez succeeds Anthony Michel, who leaves the firm after 18 years. He reports functionally to Brad Crombie, global head of fixed income, and geographically to Hugh Young, managing director for Asia-Pacific. His old role will be taken over by Nick Bishop, the senior investment manager, while Adam McCabe, current deputy, assumed Bishop's duties.

RBC Wealth Management in Asia added two new positions to its Singapore team. Soh Chye Guan was appointed managing director and market manager, reporting to Grace Barki, the managing director and head of RBC Wealth Management for South East Asia. Also appointed was Leslie Goh as investment counsellor, reporting to Febby Avianto, managing director and market manager for South East Asia.

Singapore wealth management firm CrossInvest "parted ways" with British banker Anton Casey after the executive made derisive comments about the Singaporean locals. In Casey's posts on his social media page, he referred to locals as "poor people" and used "the stench of public transport" to describe commuting on the metro. CrossInvest issued a statement saying it does not condone the offending comments. Media reports say Casey has already fled to Australia.

M&G Real Estate, the real estate fund management arm of UK-based M&G created a new acquisitions post in Singapore and named Ng Chiang Ling to the role. Ng was previously the managing director within the merchant banking division of Goldman Sachs. In her new post, she is responsible for the business's real estate acquisition activities in the city-state, Hong Kong and Australia.