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Summary Of Wealth Management Executive Moves - Asia-Pacific March 2014

10 April 2014

Australia
ANZ hired ex-Fairfax publisher Amanda Gome to assume the newly-created role of group head of strategic content and digital media effective 11 March 2014. She reports to Paul Edwards, the group general manager for corporate communications.

AMP Limited announced the retirement of Peter Mason as chairman after eight years in the role. Mason will be replaced by Simon McKeon, who officially assumes the role in May 2014. McKeon joined the AMP board in 2013. The firm also noted Rick Allert's retirement from the boards of AMP Limited and AMP Bank Limited, having reached the end of his three-year term. Trevor Matthews, previously the executive director and chairman of developed markets for Aviva in London, also joined the board as non-executive director.

Citi appointed Deirdre Worth as head of banking and wealth management products for its consumer bank in Asia. She joined the firm in 2012 as head of investments, treasury and wealth advisory, which includes responsibility for Citi Australia's wealth specialists, treasury services and investment products. She reports to Julian Potter, the Australia consumer banking head.

Westpac named chief financial officer Phil Coffey to the newly-created role of deputy chief executive with effect from 1 April 2014. Peter King, who served as deputy CFO since 2011, succeeded Coffey on the same date.

Global consulting firm Towers Watson added three investment specialists to its Australia team. Felicity Walsh joined as investment consultant in the Sydney office, Alex Misev re-joined the company as a private markets consultant, while Harrison Lane stepped in as graduate investment analyst. Walsh served for ten years as a senior actuarial consultant at the company's UK Office, while Misev spent almost a year as portfolio manager at Aberdeen Asset Management in the Netherlands.

Kapstream Capital, the Australian fixed income investment management firm, hired former T Rowe Price executive James Bloom to lead its investor relations team.

Global fund manager IFM Investors announced that starting May 2014 Dan Vandem Boom will join the firm as director for business development, based in Melbourne. In this role, he reports to Eddy Schipper, executive director of business development, who moved to Japan at the start of the year to build IFM's Asia offering.

Nikko Asset Management named industry veteran Al Clark to the newly-created role of global head of multi-asset. Clark joined the Sydney office from Schroder Investment Management in Singapore. He reports to Yu-Ming Wang, the global head of investment and chief investment officer, international, based in Tokyo.

ClearView Wealth appointed Kathryn Williamson as state manager for the New South Wales and Australian Capital Territory. She previously served as a financial planner at Commonwealth Bank of Australia and ANZ. Also appointed were Kim McDonald as practice development manager in Victoria, from Financial Services Partners, and Jenny Psathas as operations manager, from ANZ Global Wealth. ClearView Wealth is not connected to WealthBriefing Asia publisher ClearView Financial Media.

Tyndall Asset Management announced the retirement of Bob Van Munster as head of Australian equities effective September 2014, after almost 40 years in the industry. He will be replaced by Brad Potter, who assumes his new role beginning 1 June. Van Munster will remain for a further three months then to ensure a smooth transition. Warwick Cumming continues in his role as deputy head.

Australian investment management firm Dalton Nicol Reid named Robert White as head of distribution and chief executive following the resignation of its co-founder in January 2014. White joined the company from JBWere Private Wealth Management, where he was head of advice. He took over from Justine Hickey, chairman of the firm's corporate advisory committee, who became the acting CEO since Harley Dalton, the co-founder, resigned from his post after 12 years in the role

JP Morgan Asset Management appointed Stephen Alcorn as head of its Australian institutional business. Alcorn was previously the head of institutional at Australian Investments. In this new role, he reports to Rachel Farrell, the Singapore-based head of sovereign and institutional for South East Asia, Australia and New Zealand.

Joe Hockey, the Treasurer of the Commonwealth of Australia, named four internationally renowned financial services executives to the advisory panel of the Financial System Inquiry. These include Sir Michael Hintze, founder and chief executive of global multi-strategy asset management firm CQS, David Morgan AO, head of the private equity group at JC Flowers in Europe and Asia-Pacific, Jennifer Nason, global chairman of technology, media and telecom investment banking at JP Morgan Chase, and Andrew Sheng, a well-known former central banker and financial regulator in Asia and ex-president of the Fung Global Institute. Hintze and Morgan are based in London, Nason in New York and Sheng in Hong Kong.

Northern Trust appointed Peter Jordan as the chief administration officer for global fund services based in Melbourne. Jordan relocated from London in early 2014 and is now responsible for the firm's asset servicing offerings for investment managers and fund companies. He reports to Peter Cherecwich, the head of global fund services, and Rohan Singh, country head of Australia and New Zealand. Jordan has been with the company since 1992.

China
US investment and advisory firm BlackRock named Helen Zhu as managing director and head of China equities effective 7 April 2014. Zhu joined the firm after eight years at Goldman Sachs, where she was the managing director and chief China equity strategist. In her new role, she reports to Andrew Swan, head of Asian equities.

Lyxor Asset Management, a subsidiary of Societe Generale, appointed Alexandre Werno as executive vice general manager of Fortune SG Fund Management with effect from 24 March 2014. He replaced Gilbert Tse, who was named head of Lyxor Asia on the same month. Werno was previously a senior advisor to the general manager at Fortune SG. Fortune is a joint venture between China Baosteel's Fortune Investment and Lyxor AM.

Hong Kong
The Securities and Futures Commission of Hong Kong re-appointed Alexa Lam as its deputy chief to serve another year.

Morgan Stanley named Gokul Laroia as its new co-chief executive for Asia-Pacific to replace William Strong, who is retiring in May 2014. Laroia adds this new designation to his current duties as head of the institutional equites and private wealth management business in Asia (including Japan). He will partner with Wei Sun Christianson, who is also the China CEO.

BEA Union Investment Management, a subsidiary of Bank of East Asia, has announced a string of appointments that include the naming of Henry Chan Yue-Hung as its new chief investment officer. Yue-Hung took over from Elke Schoeppl-Jost who left in late 2013 to become CIO at Detusche Asset & Wealth Management. The company also announced the February 2014 promotion of Pheona Tsang as head of fixed income, to replace Henry Wong who left to "pursue other opportunities" after six years with the company. Simone Loke, head of global equities portfolios, relocated from Canada to Hong Kong to assume his new role of senior portfolio manager.

BNY Mellon named Gregory Roath as its new head for the Asia-Pacific global client management business. Roath replaced Eleni Wang, who was appointed Asia-Pacific head of investment services in 2013. His old post was assumed by Neil Atkinson, who moved to Hong Kong from the London office in 2011 to become the head of product development and strategy in Asia-Pacific.

Hang Seng Bank appointed Kenneth Ng, then the general counsel at Asia-Pacific at HSBC, as a non-executive director. His appointment as a non-executive director will be for three years, expiring at the end of the bank’s annual general meeting in 2017. There is no service contract signed between the Bank and Ng.

San Francisco-based Matthews Asia named Andy Rothman to the new position of investment strategist to focus on opportunities in China. Rothman will represent the firm in China and other parts of the Asian region and will also act as spokesperson for the company. He was previously a China macroeconomics strategist at CLSA.

Manulife appointed three senior executives in Hong Kong. These include Ivan Chan as assistant vice-president for business development and individual financial products, Kenneth Luk as AVP for marketing and customer service at Manulife Hong Kong, and Martin Lau as AVP, Greater China Development at Manulife Asia -- a newly created role.

Berwin Leighton Paisner, the international law firm, named Nigel Ward as partner to its Hong Kong finance practice. He previously served as finance partner at Norton Rose Fulbright in Beijing.

Neha Bakshi, the head of private banking and retail solutions for Asia at Deutsche Bank in Hong Kong, had left the company. The German bank declined to comment on the matter.

Bank J Safra Sarasin, the Swiss private bank with an extensive Asian presence, named industry luminary Yelandur Nagendra to the newly-created role of deputy chief executive for Asia. He was previously the managing director, global of India sub-continent, Middle East and Africa for Bank of Singapore. He now reports to Enid Yip, CEO for Asia. The bank also appointed Ken Leung as branch manager for Hong Kong. Leung joined the company in 2006 as vice president for business development and then became country control officer for North Asia in 2009. He has served as deputy branch manager since March 2010. He reports also to Yip.

RBC Wealth Management in Hong Kong expanded its regional management team with the hire of Michael Yong Haron as managing director and head of RBC Wealth Management in North Asia. Haron brings nearly 20 years of industry experience to the role, most recently as managing director at Credit Suisse in Hong Kong, where he has worked since 2004.

International law firm Latham & Watkins promoted two of its counsels to partner in Singapore and Hong Kong. Posit Laohaphan and Andrew Roche took a senior role in Hong Kong and Singapore, respectively. The appointments are part of a series of counsel promotions across the firm's other global offices in the US and Europe in the first quarter of 2014.

French asset manager Le Francaise expanded its Asian presence with the appointment of Guillaume Dhamelincourt as head of sales. He assumed this key role after working at JK Capital Management, the Asian value equities firm where La Francaise has held a minority stake since 2010. Dhamelincourt joined JK Capital in 2011 from HSBC Specialist Partners.

Private bank Coutts confirmed that Chris Wong had joined the company as executive director for the Hong Kong market. Wong was previously the head of high net worth client relationships in Hong Kong at JP Morgan. He now reports to Danny Chung, managing director and team leader of the Hong Kong market.

Mark Evans, a senior JP Morgan private banker based in Hong Kong, left the US-headquartered bank. JP Morgan had declined to comment on the matter.

UBS Global Asset Management strengthened its Hong Kong and Taiwan teams with appointment of Monita Chon to the newly-created post of head of business development for Hong Kong and Taiwan. Chon, previously the head of institutional business development for North Asia at ING Investment Management, now reports to Kai Sotorp, the head of UBS Global AM in Hong Kong. This new position combines the Hong Kong institutional and Taiwan institutional teams into one. Previously, Mei Yin Leong was responsible for the Taiwan group from Singapore, while Urs Raebsamen covered Hong Kong. Chon and Michael Chen, who joined UBS in January 2014 from Invesco, run the team from Hong Kong. Raebsamen is now a senior equity strategist based in Hong Kong.

Canadian financial services group Manulife announced a number of promotions at its Hong Kong office. William Lo was named regional director after having been with the firm since 1989. Promotions were also given to Gary Choy, Jolly Wong, Shelina Cheung, Steven Wong and Windy Chan, who have been appointed as senior district directors. Bring Soong, Candy Leung, Eddie Law, Gigi So, Henry Chow, Ken Chan, Unol Chan and Yvonne Lo were named as district directors.

Deutsche Bank, the German banking giant, named former Standard Chartered executive Evan Goldstein to the newly-created post of global head of Renminbi services. He reports jointly to Michael Ormaechea, the co-head of corporate banking and securities for Asia-Pacific, and Lisa Robins, the Asia-Pacific head of global transaction banking. He is based in Hong Kong.

Japan
Securities-focused specialist advisory firm AlfaSec Advisors expanded its branch network with a new Tokyo office and named Kyoichi Murakawa as chief representative for Japan. Prior to this, AlfaSec's offices were located only in Hong Kong and Singapore. Murakawa previously held positions at Clearstream Banking Japan, Deutsche Bank and Brown Brothers Harriman.

Singapore
Raymond Ang took over from Peter Kok as regional market manager for Singapore at UBS. Ang joined the Swiss bank in 2012. Separately, the firm also announced that the country team for Malaysia and financial intermediaries Asia-Pacific now report to Andreas Reber, regional market manager for India, Indochina, Philippines and Global Investor Asia-Pacific.

Sanjeev Sharma joined Bank of Singapore as executive director and team head. Based in Hong Kong, Sharma reports to Edward Chow, who is the market head of a team that serves clients domiciled primarily in Hong Kong, including Chinese, International and non-resident Indians. The bank also confirmed that Nikhil Advani was appointed as market head for Southeast Asia, to lead the NRI team based out of Singapore.

Falcon Group, a single family office based in Zurich, Dubai and Buenos Aires, announced the appointment of Mark Prendiville to its Singapore office. Prendiville used to be the Singapore head of institutional sales at Julius Baer. Falcon Group is not, as far as this publication is aware, connected to Falcon Private Bank, nor the US-based firm Falcon Investment Advisors.

Western Asset Management strengthened its emerging markets team with the appointment of Chia-Liang Lian as co-head of the emerging markets debt team, alongside Keith Gardner, who intends to retire in April 2016. Lian joined the company in 2011 to lead the Asia ex-Japan investment team. The company also promoted Desmond Soon, one of the Singapore investment team members, to co-head of investment management, Asia, also effective April 2014.

Fullerton Fund Management announced three senior appointments to its equity investment team. Jason Zhu was named head of China equities, Ian McCallum joined as chief investment officer, while Craig Mitchell assumed the role of head of an Asia absolute return equity fund managed by the firm. The hires complement Fullerton's growth plans for 2014. Early in the year, the company announced that it is setting up an office in London and applying for a license from the Financial Conduct Authority. It also recently opened an office in Japan.

Standard Chartered has announced the official appointment of Neeraj Swaroop as chief executive of its bank in Singapore. Swaroop, who served as CEO for ASEAN excluding Singapore, responsible for StanChart’s franchise and operations in Australia, Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam, took over from Ray Ferguson. Ferguson left the UK-listed bank in February to join Arab Banking Corporation in Bahrain.

Mercer appointed Kulshaan Singh as head of sales for its businesses in Asia, India, Middle East, Turkey and Africa. Singh joined from Aon Hewitt, where he held a number of senior leadership capacities during his 13 years with the firm. He reports to Michelle Bottomley, chief sales and marketing officer, and Gaurav Garg, regional president for growth markets.

The v, the financial regulatory body of Singapore, announced several changes to its senior management ranks. Effective 31 March 2014, Foo-Yap Siew Hong retired from the role of assistant managing director for special projects after 39 years with the institution. Lee Chuan Teck, currently assistant managing director for capital markets, will be seconded to the Ministry of Transport as deputy secretary for land and corporate. Lee will be succeeded by Lee Boon Ngiap, who will relinquish his current position as assistant managing director for banking and insurance. He will then be replaced by current executive director for the banking department Chua Kim Leng. All these changes take effect 1 April.