A round-up of senior wealth management moves in the Asia-Pacific region.

Credit Suisse established a new team in Beijing to provide data-driven insight into global and domestic Chinese clients. The group is called the China Quantitative Insight team; it joined Credit Suisse from CLSA’s China Reality Research group. The team is led by managing director David Murphy. Previously, Murphy led CLSA’s CRR group, which he co-founded in July 2005 to provide grassroots economic insights on China, and has been living in Beijing since 1995. Murphy is supported by Haixu Qiu, deputy head of CQi and one of the co-founders of CRR.

Bonhams, the international auction house, made a senior figure in the luxury goods sector its chairman for Greater China. Bobbie Hu took on the role from 1 October reporting to Edward Wilkinson, Bonhams’ executive director, Asia. Hu worked in the luxury and auction industry for nearly 30 years. Prior to Bonhams, she worked for 18 years at BVLGARI, in roles such as managing director, Taiwan and becoming chairman and Greater China high-end products director.

T Rowe Price set up its Tokyo-based multi-asset team. The move involved Richard Coghlan, global solutions portfolio manager, transferring from from the firm’s headquarters in Baltimore, US to Tokyo. The firm also hired Hajime Takigawa as a solution strategist. Coghlan is a global solutions portfolio manager in the multi-asset division of T Rowe Price and co-portfolio manager of the Real Assets Strategy. He has 22 years of investment experience spanning the US, the Philippines, South Korea and Hong Kong. In his expanded Tokyo-based role, Coghlan works with the firm’s Asia Pacific-based team to develop appropriate income solutions for local markets in the region. Hajime Takigawa has over 15 years of portfolio management experience in Japan with global investment firms. He joined from Russell Investments where he was most recently a senior portfolio manager and team leader of Russell Implementation Services and client portfolio management teams.

HSBC Private Banking expanded the role of two senior Asia figures. Cynthia Lee was named regional head of private wealth solutions, Asia-Pacific. Separately, Steven Weekes was named head of private wealth solutions (PWS), Southeast Asia. Weekes is based in Singapore, and reports to Lee. Lee continues to report to Alan Beattie, global head of PWS.

Lee joined HSBC as head of PWS, North Asia, in January 2019 from JP Morgan where she was most recently head of wealth advisory for Asia. Lee has more than 20 years of wealth advisory experience, focusing on private clients and families.

Weekes joined HSBC after 23 years at Citi Private Bank. Most recently, he was head of international fiduciary services based in Zurich, Switzerland, leading a global team of professionals with responsibility for international trust companies in the Bahamas, the Cayman Islands, Jersey, Singapore and Switzerland. Weekes took over from Michelle Lau, who was appointed to a new role in HSBC Private Banking as MD, Ultra High Net Worth and Family Office Strategic Services, South East Asia.

HSBC appointed Philip Lee, a former senior figure at Deutsche Bank, to the newly-created role of vice chairman for Southeast Asia at the Global Banking franchise. At Deutsche Bank, Lee was vice chairman of Southeast Asia and chief country officer of the lender in Singapore from 2013 to 2018. Prior to that, Lee spent 18 years with JP Morgan as chief executive of Southeast Asia investment banking and senior country officer for its Singapore franchise. He is also chairman of the Singapore Health Promotion Board and, separately, council member and investment committee chairman of the Institute of Banking and Finance Singapore. Based in Singapore, Lee reports functionally to Greg Guyett, group head of Global Banking, and at a country level to Tony Cripps, CEO, HSBC Singapore. He works with Stephen Williams, head of global banking for Southeast Asia.

HSBC Private Banking hired three senior figures to join its investment services and product solutions group leadership team in Asia-Pacific. It appointed Lina Lim as regional head of discretionary, Asia, HSBC Private Banking. It also appointed Rocky Cheung as head of investment counselling, Mainland China and Taiwan Markets, and Simon Hwang as investment counselling team head for the Mainland China Market.

Lina Lim was previously at JP Morgan Wealth Management, where she worked for over a decade in a number of roles, most recently spearheading the institutional wealth management’s discretionary business in Asia for family offices, endowments and foundations. Prior to her time at JP Morgan, she was senior portfolio manager with Sumitomo Mitsui Asset Management. Lim, who is based in Hong Kong, reports to Abdel Ben Tkhayet and Jackie Mau, co-heads of ISPS, Asia Pacific, HSBC Private Banking.

Rocky Cheung joined from DBS Private Bank, where he was head of investment product and advisory. Cheung has over 24 years of financial industry and private banking experience, with a focus on private clients. Prior to his time at DBS, he focused on a derivatives trading system design for the Hong Kong Futures Exchange. Based in Hong Kong, he also reports to Jackie Mau and Abdel Ben Tkhayet.

Simon Hwang joined HSBC Private Banking from Citi Private Bank, where he led the mainland China and Taiwan investment counselling team. He has over 19 years of investment advisory experience having worked at global banks, corporations and hedge funds. Prior to his time at Citi, Hwang worked at China Everbright Holdings and Ludgate Hill Investment Management and co-founded the investment firm, Pangu Capital. He reports to Rocky Cheung, head of investment counselling, Mainland China and Taiwan Markets, HSBC Private Banking.

Credit Suisse appointed Erica Poon Werkun as head of equity research for Asia Pacific in charge of equity advisory and client investment ideas for the region. The 25-year veteran spent 17 years in equity research and seven years in investment banking. Most recently she was managing director and head of research for UBS Securities in China. Before that she led UBS on consumer and internet research. She has also covered consumer and technology for Goldman Sachs in Hong Kong and Taiwan.  She is based in Hong Kong.

RBC Wealth Management appointed Terence Chow as head of the business in Asia, filling the slot left by Peter Corry, who retired after 22 years at the firm. Corry was most recently head, RBC Wealth Management - Asia. Chow, who is based in Hong Kong, joined RBC 15 years ago and has had a number of senior roles with the organisation, primarily focused on strategy, execution, planning and operations for the wealth management business and RBC Capital Markets in Toronto and New York. 

As part of the change, Mike Reed, CEO, RBC Singapore Branch, leads RBC Wealth Management’s Singapore office and Southeast Asia private banking team, reporting to Chow.

Franklin Templeton named Dora Seow as country head for Singapore following the pending departure of Adam Quaife, regional head for Southeast Asia, who relocated to Australia. Seow assumed the new position of country head for Singapore while continuing to oversee the firm’s business in Thailand, the Philippines, and Brunei. Seow joined Franklin Templeton in 2001 and has held various leadership positions. Avi Satwalekar remained as the country head for Malaysia and chairman of Franklin Templeton’s joint venture in Vietnam (Vietcombank Fund Management). Both new appointees report to Mark Browning, managing director for Asia Pacific.

Global financial advisor The Fry Group added Peter Webb as international tax manager in Singapore. Webb transferred from the group’s UK Exeter office to take up the Singapore post, where he provides UK tax advice to private clients in Singapore, Dubai, and other parts of the Middle East. Webb has worked for more than 30 years in accounting.

Bank J Safra Sarasin has elected Jürg Haller as its new chairman, taking over from Ilan Hayim. Hayim, who informed the bank that he wanted to step down, had served the group since 2013. Haller, a Swiss national, has extensive experience in the banking sector both in Switzerland and globally. He began his professional career at Raiffeisenbank Basen-Wettingen in 1973, and worked for JP Morgan in New York and Zurich from 1981 to 1984. He was employed by UBS filling various senior leadership positions from 1984 (originally Swiss Bank Corporation) until July 2001. Since February 2018, he served as executive vice chairman of global wealth management.

Aberdeen Standard Investments appointed Min Chow Sai as head of investment research – real estate, Asia-Pacific. Based in Singapore, he leads ASI’s real estate research across the region and provides investment insight and analysis for its global and regional portfolios. Min Chow Sai reports to Andrew Allen, London-based global head of investment research, real estate. Prior to joining ASI, he worked at Nomura Securities in Singapore for more than a decade, most recently as executive director responsible for Singapore and regional listed real estate investment research.

HSBC Global Asset Management, part of HSBC, appointed one of its senior figures, Joanna Munro, as global chief investment officer, replacing Chris Cheetham who retired from the role. Based in London, Munro assumed the role at the end of September, reporting to Nicolas Moreau, global CEO. Her predecessor, Cheetham, had worked in the investment sector for more than four decades. Munro is global head of stewardship and fiduciary governance and chair of HSBC Global Asset Management UK. She joined HSBC Global Asset Management as global CIO of HSBC Investments in October 2005. Munro has served as head of product and, more recently, chief executive of the business’ Asia-Pacific operations.

A former senior private banking figure at DBS and Citi, Peter Triggs, was named as a consultant for The Fry Group, the global advisory group. Triggs’ role encompasses advocacy, mentoring, presentations and other business development activities. A tax, trust and wealth planning veteran with more than 30 years’ experience in Asia, the Middle East and Europe, Triggs’ previous role was managing director, head of regional wealth planning, DBS Private Bank in Singapore. He now heads a consulting business, Triggs Wealth Advisory Pte Ltd.

Sun Life Asia, part of the global Sun Life group, which provides wealth management among its offerings, named Léo Grépin as its new president. He took over the helm after Claude Accum retired. Grépin is responsible for Sun Life's “fastest growing business pillar” encompassing life, health and wealth management businesses in seven Asian markets – the Philippines, Hong Kong, China, Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia, and India – as well as the International high net worth business. He was appointed president for the ASEAN region in April, responsible for Sun Life's businesses in the Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam and Malaysia, and regional distribution and marketing. Grépin was previously senior vice president, individual insurance and wealth for Sun Life Canada. 

Offshore law firm Carey Olsen appointed James Webb as a finance and corporate partner in its Hong Kong office. Webb, who specialises in Cayman Islands and British Virgin Islands (BVI) law, advises on a wide range of debt transactions, including acquisition finance, leveraged finance, project finance, real estate finance, fund finance, margin lending, structured finance, bond issuances, general lending, distressed debt, security enforcements, work-outs and debt restructurings. Prior to this, he was at Walkers in Hong Kong where he was a partner in the Hong Kong office. Webb is an offshore expert having previously lived and worked in both the Cayman Islands and BVI for nearly five years.

M&G created a new Asia-Pacific equity team. The team is led by investors Dave Perrett and Carl Vine. The other new hires are analyst Valentina Luo in London, head of Asian equity dealing, Greg Moore, portfolio manager, Vikas Pershad and analyst Eleanor Kim in Singapore; and senior analyst Nick Cunningham in Hong Kong. All seven previously worked at investment boutique Port Meadow Capital Management.

Schroders made a number of top-line appointments in Asia and Europe. Charles Prideaux, who has 30 years of management experience, including portfolio and investment platform management, was appointed to the newly-created role of global head of investment. After 38 years with the firm, John Troiano, global head of distribution, was due to retire at the end of 2019. Lieven Debruyne, who had led business strategy in Asia-Pacific over the past 14 years, became global head of distribution. Debruyne continued as CEO of Asia Pacific until a successor was appointed. He moved to London form Hong Kong.

Asia-based management consultancy firm Prophet, which works with banks as part of its portfolio of clients, opened a Singapore in office, adding to its presence in Shanghai and Hong Kong. Previously based in Prophet's Hong Kong office, Jacqueline Alexis Thng returned to her home country to lead the Singapore office, with more than 20 years' industry experience. 

Deutsche Bank Wealth Management appointed Jeffrey Yen Chieh Peng as its head of China onshore wealth. He is based in Shanghai and oversees the onshore China wealth management business by managing and strengthening resources, the platform and operations. Jeffrey Yen Chieh Peng reports to Kanas Chan (organisation manager), head of North Asia Wealth Management, Feng Gao, chairman of Deutsche Bank (China), China chief country officer of Deutsche Bank and Rose Zhu (matrix manager), president of Deutsche Bank (China) Co. Prior to this, he was MD and head of strategic alliance and independent asset management excellence centre for Greater China, North Asia, at Bank of Singapore. Previously, he was with UBS for 11 years, lastly as executive director and head of wealth management investment products and services in China.