The Zurich-listed firm has announced a number of top-level appointments in Asia.

EFG International has named Tho Gea Hong as its new Singapore chief executive, taking over from Kong Eng Huat, who retires at the end of this year as previously reported by this publication. 

Tho Gea Hong is also a member of the Asia Business Committee that is chaired by Albert Chiu, executive chairman for the Asia-Pacific region. Tho Gea Hong has more than 30 years of experience in the private banking sector; she served as head of private banking at Singapore from 2012 to 2016 at EFG. She moved to Royal Bank of Canada as CEO of its Singapore branch, before rejoining EFG.

Tho Gea Hong started her career at DBS Bank and previously also worked for Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

In addition, Ivan Ferraroni will join EFG as the new head of global markets for Asia, effective early October 2018. In this role, Ferraroni takes charge of all global markets activities in Asia. He will work with Albert Chiu and the central global markets unit, under the leadership of Maurizio Moranzoni. Ivan Ferraroni will be based in Hong Kong with a functional reporting line to Moranzoni and a regional reporting line to Kees Stoute, CEO of EFG’s Hong Kong branch. 

Ferraroni’s role is a newly-created one.

Prior to joining EFG, he worked for UBS Investment Bank in Singapore from 2011 to 2018, where he last held the role of head of APAC Client Office and was a member of the APAC Global Family Office Committee. Previously, Ferraroni spent 25 years at financial institutions including Barclays Capital and RBS Global Banking & Markets.

In addition, Richard Straus has joined EFG as the new head of private banking, Hong Kong, on 25 June. He reports to Kees Stoute and is also a member of the Asia Business Committee. Prior to this, Straus worked at Julius Baer from 2015, where he team head, Greater China. Before that, he spent most of his career at Citi, where he held numerous senior roles in New York, Singapore, Taiwan and Japan.