A roundup of senior wealth management moves in the Asia-Pacific region during March 2021.

Sun Hung Kai & Co, the Hong Kong-listed investments firm, named Lincoln Yeh to co-head the company’s private equity business alongside Vivian Hao. Yeh builds and runs the company’s international private equity investment portfolio and relationships, while Hao focuses on increasing the development of China markets. Before this role, Yeh – who has more than 17 years of industry experience – specialised in technology, media and technology investments at Tencent and Temasek.

Toronto-listed Sun Life Financial named Karim Gilani as president for its “international hubs” businesses - Hong Kong, Bermuda and Singapore. Gilani is chief financial officer at Sun Life Asia and head of strategic integration, responsible for overseeing and integrating its core regional functions of finance, risk, actuarial, product, legal, investments, mergers and acquisitions, and compliance. He joined Sun Life Asia as chief risk officer in 2015 and went on to become Asia CFO in 2017. Before Sun Life, Gilani held a variety of posts in risk, actuarial, products, reinsurance and consulting in Asia and North America. 

Samuel Tsien, the outgoing chief executive of OCBC, parent of Bank of Singapore, became an advisor to the group’s board after retiring in April. Tsien was appointed to OCBC’s board in February 2014 and made CEO in April 2012, originally joining in July 2007. Before his tenure at OCBC, he was president and CEO of China Construction Bank (Asia) when China Construction Bank acquired Bank of America (Asia).

DBS appointed a new non-executive director to join the boards of DBSH and DBS Bank: Chng Kai Fong. In addition to serving on DBS’ main boards, Chng also serves as a member of their audit committees and nominating committees. Three long-serving directors, Euleen Goh, Ow Foong Pheng and Andre Sekulic, stepped down as board members. As a senior civil servant, Chng, who is the managing director of the Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB), has been in the post since October 2017. Prior to joining EDB, he was the principal private secretary to the Prime Minister of Singapore.

Australia-listed Pendal Group said CEO Emilio Gonzalez was stepping down after 11 years in the role. He was succeeded by Nicholas Good, CEO of the J O Hambro Capital Management (JOHCM) operations in the US. Pendal acquired JOHCM in 2011.

Raffles Family Office appointed inaugural members of its newly-created Independent Advisory Board. The inaugural members were Christina Lau from LeeKumKee Health Product Group’s Infinitus Property Investment and David Chang, a senior advisor to Franklin Templeton for the Greater China region. The advisors help RFO with engagements involving highly complex family structures. They also help identify philanthropic opportunities for clients and advise on the company’s future development plans.

New Zealand’s Financial Markets Authority said that James Greig, director of supervision, had been appointed to join the FMA’s executive committee. He has reported to Robert Everett, chief executive, since last year. Since joining the FMA in 2016, Greig has led the FMA’s supervision team, which is responsible for monitoring and supervising managed investment schemes, supervisors, custodians, derivatives issuers and financial advice. Michael Hewes was appointed as head of financial advice, within the supervision team and will lead this work, reporting directly to Greig.

Industry veteran Nagendra Y N joined UCAP Asset Management as board member and chairman for Asia and the Middle East. Nagendra was previously vice chairman and deputy chief executive for Asia at Bank J Safra Sarasin.

BNP Paribas Wealth Management appointed former Citi Private Bank figure Kevin King as head of the China market. Based in Hong Kong, he reports to Michael Yong-Haron, head of wealth management for North Asia. An industry veteran, King has served in senior China market roles at Citi Private Bank over the past decade, most recently as global market manager.

Julius Baer in India appointed Chirag Gandhi as senior advisor, team head, based in New Delhi. It also brought in senior relationship managers to the India franchise.

Gandhi joined with more than 15 years of experience in wealth management. He was most recently a senior partner at IIFLW and for the past decade he headed a team based in New Delhi. He brought a team of bankers with him, opening avenues for Julius Baer in new client segments in northern India including Rajasthan and Punjab. It welcomed a team of bankers from Avendus - Manish Khaitan in Mumbai and Abhinav Kumar in Bangalore - to add to its west and south India coverage.

Lombard Odier Investment Managers made strategic hires in global equities across Asian and European offices. Henry Zhang, Ashley Chung, and Faye Gao joined in Hong Kong and Singapore; and Alina Donets in London.

Hong Kong-based Zhang joined as a portfolio manager responsible for the China high-conviction strategy. He was most recently portfolio manager at Harvest Global Investments in Hong Kong. Chung joined in Singapore as an analyst and junior portfolio manager from Schroders Investment Management, where she was in charge of conducting thematic analysis for the technology sector on behalf of institutional clients. Gao, who also moved from Harvest Global Investments, had spent time at AB Bernstein Research. She is Hong Kong-based and will provide long-term analysis for the Asian and Emerging Markets equities team.

Citigroup appointed David Brown as Asia-Pacific head of client executive and account management for custody and fund services, based in Hong Kong. Brown is responsible for client executive and account management teams across the region. He reports to Irimga McKay, global head of client executives and account management for custody and fund services, and David Russell, Asia-Pacific head of securities services and Hong Kong head of markets.

BNY Mellon Investment Management appointed Dominic Wong as head of the intermediary segment for Greater China and Sabrina Yu as a senior associate in business development for Taiwan.

In this-newly created role, Wong is responsible for developing and driving the intermediary strategy in Greater China, including leading the efforts with Asia’s private banks and global financial institutions in the region. His role includes deepening client relationships across private banks, family offices and retail banks, and growing assets under management in Hong Kong, Mainland China and Taiwan. Prior to this, Wong spent 15 years at Fidelity Investment Management, with his most recent role being head of intermediary business, North Asia covering Hong Kong, Mainland China, Taiwan and South Korea.

Wong was head of retail sales, Hong Kong at BlackRock, and earlier in his career worked in distribution and client relationship roles for New Alliance Asset Management, Asia and HSBC Asset Management, Hong Kong.

Yu joined the firm with a focus on building brand and relationships with Taiwan institutions, working closely with Rebecca Chu, head of Taiwan. Yu was most recently associate director, institutional sales at Aberdeen Standard Investments in Taiwan where she was responsible for building relationships and growing assets amongst Taiwan insurance companies, fund of fund managers and pension funds.
 

The Maples Group unveiled a new Asian leadership structure for its law firm. Michael Gagie was appointed as regional managing partner for Asia. Gagie has spent the past decade working in leadership roles across the group's Asia offices in Hong Kong and Singapore. He assumed executive and leadership responsibility for the group's law firms in Hong Kong and Singapore. The other appointments: Matt Roberts, head of the Asia corporate practice; John Trehey, head of the Asia dispute resolution and insolvency practice; Michael Gagie, head of the Asia finance practice; and Ann Ng and Anthony Webster, co-heads of the Asia funds and investment management practice.

Fiera Capital Corporation, a Montreal, Canada-based asset management firm, added more than $500 million to its global equities team from Australia-listed AMP Capital. The team comprises four investment professionals: Simon Steele, lead portfolio manager, Neil Mitchell  who will be based in Fiera Capital's London office, with David Naughtin and Andy Gardner based in Hong Kong and Sydney, Australia, respectively.

US-based insurer and risk management group Chubb named Peter Kelaher as country president for Australia and New Zealand. Kelaher is senior vice president and head of property and casualty for Australia and New Zealand. Kelaher reports to Paul McNamee, senior vice president, Chubb Group, and regional president of Asia-Pacific. He succeeded Jarrod Hill, who is leaving the company.

Synpulse, the consultancy that works with financial services, named Inge Halim as managing director of Indonesia. Halim, who has three decades of experience in financial services, has worked with a number of large financial services organisations over her career. 

Manulife Investment Management appointed Adrian Chen as head of wealth and asset management, China. In this newly-created role, Chen leads growth of the firm’s wealth and asset management business in China. Chen is based in Shanghai and reports to Michael Dommermuth. He joined from UBS where his latest roles were general manager and legal representative of UBS Ruihua and UBS Asset Management. He worked at UBS for 13 years.

KPMG in Singapore named Anton Ruddenklau as its financial services head. Ruddenklau most recently served as global co-leader of fintech for KPMG International, and was partner and head of digital and innovation for financial services in KPMG in the UK.

Standard Chartered appointed Chandrima Das as global head, managed investments. Das, who is based in Singapore; reports to Marc Van de Walle, global head, wealth management. Das has more than two decades of experience in the banking and asset management industry in Asia and Europe. Besides having had leadership roles in financial institutions such as Bank of Singapore, ING, Prudential and most recently Grab, she is also the co-founder of Bento, an investment advisor platform with robotic and human components.

Indosuez Wealth Management named Shiladitya Choudhuri as market head of external asset manager and multi-family office business in Singapore, adding to his existing roles. Choudhuri had been MD at Indosuez’s Singapore branch since 2014 and, in his enhanced role, he continues to report to Omar Shokur, Asia chief executive and Singapore branch manager of Indosuez. Choudhuri has worked at HSBC Private Banking and ABN AMRO Bank in Singapore, as well as ICICI Bank in Dubai and India.

Separately, Jensen Wee was made senior director, head of client services in the firm’s Singapore branch. Reporting to Lucien Jeannin, chief of staff, Asia, Wee has more than 20 years of experience in the financial services industry with a strong track record in client relationship and service management. Prior to Indosuez, he was director, business management, at Julius Baer in Singapore.

HSBC appointed Xian Chan as chief investment officer of wealth management, and global head of research and insights at the bank's Wealth and Global Private Banking unit. It also appointed six regional CIOs in the division to grow and scale its wealth management franchise. Chan reports to global private banking CIO Willem Sels. Based in London, Chan has spent nine years at the global bank and has invested heavily in its digital transformation. The six regional CIOs named are Fan Cheuk Wan, Asia; Patrick Ho, North Asia; James Cheo, Southeast Asia; Jonathan Sparks, UK & CI; Belal Khan, MENA and Europe; and Jose Rasco, Americas.

Credit Suisse boosted its wealth talent with two senior hires in its Mumbai and Delhi offices. Suveer Modi joined its Private Banking India Onshore business as a senior relationship manager in Delhi. He reports to onshore private banking group head Puneet Matta. The veteran banker is the former executive director of Kotak Mahindra Bank. Sudipto Sinha also joined from Kotak Mahindra Bank, where he worked for 15 years in its wealth management business. He began at the bank as the team head in Kolkata, moving on to lead the Delhi market, before adding the eastern region to his responsibilities. In 2018, he moved to Mumbai as a team leader and continued to manage his Delhi clients. He joined Credit Suisse as a senior relationship manager in Mumbai, also reporting to Matta.

DBS Bank appointed a new Malaysia country head to take over from Jeffrey Ling, who was slated to retire. Abdul Raof Latiff took over from him at the start of June. Latiff, the group head of digital for institutional banking at DBS, as well as group head of global transaction services product management, handed over the role to Lim Soon Chong.