Here is a roundup of moves in the Asia-Pacific wealth management sector during June this year.

Intertrust made a splash of appointments: James Donnan was named head of fund services for the firm's Hong Kong office. He previously worked as commercial director, Greater China for Intertrust. It appointed Christine Jacquemart as commercial director of fund services, based in Luxembourg. She has more than 20 years' experience and has worked for Pictet earlier in her career.
Harald Thul was selected for the director of alternative investments services role, also based in Luxembourg. He joined Intertrust in 2013 after spending 14 years working at PricewaterhouseCoopers. 

Another joiner is Michael Johnson, coming from BNP Paribas to head up its funds division in the Channel Islands. Previously, he was head of fund services for the Channel Islands at BNP Paribas.
In the firm’s Dutch headquarters, other appointments were made. Joost Broekhuis was appointed executive director of capital markets and funds services. Previously, Joost was business unit director of the private equity team for North America.

Evert Wind was named executive director of corporate services. Evert joined Intertrust in 2003 and was most recently in charge of overseeing the integration programme following the acquisition of Elian in September 2016.

Aviva Investors, the global asset management business of Aviva, appointed Charles Wong as head of wholesale distribution Asia. He is based in Singapore. Wong is responsible for growing Aviva Investors’ wholesale platform in Asia and managing the firm’s relationships with private banks, family offices and financial advisors in the region. He has over 12 years’ experience in fund distribution. He was most recently vice president of institutional distribution at Credit Suisse Asset Management.

UK-based Waverton Investment Management appointed Chaiyarit ‘Hoon’ Valyasevi as an analyst, based in the firm’s recently-opened Bangkok representative office. Hoon joins Brook Tellwright and Doug Barnett in uncovering investment opportunities across the Southeast Asian region. Hoon joins from Thailand’s state-owned energy corporation, PTT Public Company Limited where he was responsible for business development. He graduated from Imperial College, London with a Masters in Chemical Engineering (MEng) in 2014.

PineBridge Investments, the asset management house, appointed Lisa Wang as head of marketing and communications for Asia, based in Hong Kong. Wang joined PineBridge from State Street Global Advisors, where she was head of marketing for the Asia-Pacific region. Wang has more than a decade of business-to-business and business-to-client marketing experience in the asset management industry. 

India-based financial services group IDFC, which provides services including wealth management, appointed Sunil Kakar as the managing director and chief executive of IDFC Limited, taking effect from 16 July.  The appointment is subject to approval of shareholders at the company’s annual general meeting; Kakar has been chief financial officer at IDFC Bank. The group also accepted the resignation of Vikram Limaye, current MD and CEO of IDFC Limited. 

Japan's Nomura Holdings made a change to its board of directors, appointing a new outside director. Nine directors and seven executive officers were re-appointed to the board. Mari Sono became an outside director on Nomura's board.

ANZ appointed Jennifer Scott to the newly-created role of general manager of digital transformation and performance to spearhead the bank's digital strategy. She is responsible for the commercial delivery of

ANZ's digital banking strategy, including strategic partnerships, to accelerate innovation and to support the bank's overall agenda. Scott has more than 20 years' experience in senior finance, strategy and marketing. She has worked in Australia, Europe, the UK and the US.

Schroders appointed Ken Maeda to succeed Shogo Maeda as head of Japanese equities when he retires in March 2018; Maeda leads the Japanese equities team from 1 October 2017. He has managed the Schroder ISF Japanese Opportunities funds since it launched in December 2016. He joined Schroders in 2001, previously working at Nomura Asset Management. 

Northern Trust added three new staff to its offices in Sydney and Melbourne in a bid to drive future growth across its asset servicing and trading desks. Tania Tuxford was appointed as a business development manager in the Sydney office. David McWilliams, also appointed as a business development manager, heads up the firm’s growth prospects from the Melbourne office. Simon McDonough was named senior equity program trader, joining Tuxford in the firm's Sydney office.  Tuxford joined from ANZ Wealth in Sydney, where she was a senior relationship manager. She has also worked at Citi and RBC Investor Services in Australia. McWilliams joined from JP Morgan Investor Services, where he worked as a senior relationship manager. Earlier in his career, he spent stints with ANZ Custodian Services and Bank of New York in London. Reporting to Angelo Calvitto, head of sales for corporate and institutional services in Asia-Pacific, both Tuxford and McWilliams service asset owners and managers in the Australasia region.

Russell Reynolds Associates, an executive search and leadership advisory firm, appointed Peter O'Brien as region head for Asia Pacific, replacing Peter Drummond-Hay. O'Brien, who previously led the global supply chain practice at the firm, spent the last 10 years in the leadership and search advisory industry.

Capital Partners, a wholly-independent outsourced investment office, appointed Arjun Raghavan to its board of directors. Raghavan is a partner of the firm and head of its Asian business. He joined the firm in 2007 and became a partner in 2010. He relocated from the firm’s London office in 2013 and established offices in Hong Kong and subsequently Singapore.

ING Bank appointed Rob Carnell as chief economist, head of research Asia-Pacific. Carnell replaced Tim Condon, who retired from both roles. The new head of research APAC moved from London to Singapore. Carnell is responsible for heading the firm’s APAC research management, which covers the whole of Asia, Australia and New Zealand. He reports to Mark Cliffe, group chief economist. He joined the firm in October 2014. Condon joined the firm in 1999 to head the bank’s economic and financial markets research of Asia ex-Japan. He retired at the end of June after more than 18 years’ service.

Paul Davies, former chief executive of Coutts Asia and a veteran of the private banking industry in the region, joined Singapore-based headhunter Tom Roche and Associates. Davies' career spans more than 40 years and he has worked in UK, Switzerland, India and Asia. He spent 15 years in Singapore, where he led Coutts development of their high net worth Clients in the city-state, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, and global non-resident Indians. Prior to retiring in 2014, Davies was Coutts vice-chairman for Southeast Asia.

UBS appointed industry veteran Ya Ju Wu as country team head, China International, replacing Vicky Lee. Ya Ju joined UBS in 1996 and has held the role of desk head on the Taiwan International team since 2006. She has more than 20 years´ experience in total and has worked in in Taiwan, France, the US and Hong Kong. In her new Hong Kong-based role, Ya Ju reports to Marina Lui, regional market manager, China International, and operates from UBS´ Kowloon office, which opened late last year.

BNP Paribas Asset Management made two appointments in Singapore and London: Mark Speciale became Asia-Pacific head of institutional sales, and Simeon Tsonev joined the emerging markets fixed income team as a currencies portfolio manager. Based in Singapore, Speciale reports to Hong Kong-based Ligia Torres, BNP Paribas Asset Management's APAC chief executive. Prior to joining the French lender, Speciale worked at BNY Mellon Investment Management in Singapore as head of distribution. His career in financial services spans close to 30 years. Meanwhile, Tsonev, whose role was newly-created, is based in London and reports to Bryan Carter, head of emerging markets fixed income.  Tsonev joined BNP Paribas Asset Management from Credit Suisse, where he was a vice president of foreign exchange options trading, with a focus on emerging market currencies.

Natixis Global Asset Management appointed Oliver Bilal as head of international sales and marketing, overseeing all related distribution and institutional activities across Europe, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East. Bilal joined from UBS Asset Management, where he was head of EMEA. Beverly Bearden, former executive vice president of global human resources, was appointed deputy chief executive, reporting to Jean Raby, the firm’s chief executive. Fabrice Chemouny, former executive vice president of international institutional sales, became head of Asia-Pacific, overseeing business development in the region. He reports to both Bilal and Raby. Chris Jackson, former International deputy chief operating officer at Natixis, became chief international operations officer. Cyril Marie, former head of strategy and corporate development at Natixis, assumed the role of deputy chief financial officer, reporting to CFO Geoffroy Sartorius and Raby.

Mark Smallwood, previously of Deutsche Wealth Management, resurfaced as managing director of Confidentem Private Office, based in Singapore. Spending 14 years at Deutsche, Smallwood had been a member of the executive and management committees of the asset and wealth Management businesses, head of wealth planning for Asia-Pacific and global head of insurance solutions at the German firm. Prior to this, he owned and operated a multi-family office in the Caribbean which incorporated both a trustee and corporate services business, as well as an insurance company, selling these in 2003. He has been a full member of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners for 18 years.

UBS Asset Management appointed Patrick Jung as fixed income specialist. Jung works with the Sydney-based fixed income team and he will work with its clients and research consultants. He has over ten years’ experience in the industry. He spent eight years at the National Australia Bank in Sydney and Singapore.

Japanese asset manager Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group (SuMI TRUST) promoted two directors to the firm’s London office. Akimichi Oi was promoted to director of the investment management department, and Kota Murakami was elevated to director of global business development. Oi is responsible for international sales and the expansion of Sumitomo Mitsui Trust International. Murakami is responsible for the development and expansion of SuMI TRUST Group’s client base. The new director of investment management moved from the Tokyo office.

Northern Trust appointed Sally Surgeon as head of its Sydney office; she kept her responsibilities as head of client services for Australasia. She continued to report directly to Madeleine Senior, head of the Australasia region. Prior to her new role, Surgeon was most recently based in Northern Trust’s Melbourne office. She joined the firm in 2005 in London, and then moved to the Melbourne office in 2007. Surgeon has more than 20 years’ experience in the sector.

A senior figure at JP Morgan’s private bank in Hong Kong left the bank after less than a year in the role - Lemuel Lee, head of equities, Asia. Lee was in charge of equity investments for Asian clients at JP Morgan, including managed and index funds. Prior to this role, he worked at Bear Stearns, the US business acquired in 2008 by JP Morgan when the former had hit financial trouble.

Schroders, the UK-listed investment house and private bank, made Jason Yu head of multi-asset product for North Asia. Yu is based in Hong Kong and reports to Garth Taljard, head of multi-asset management. You previously worked at Standard Life Investments. 

Pacific Life Re appointed Vivian Wei as its China representative. She has more than 17 years of experience in the life insurance industry. 

Bank of Singapore made a raft of senior managerial changes affecting roles of global markets heads. Sermon Kwan, who has managed two roles – chief executive of BoS’s Hong Kong branch and that of global market head for Greater China, from January 2018 was focusing on his Hong Kong CEO role. Kwan passed the responsibilities of the global market head for Greater China to Derrick Tan, the bank’s GM head for Malaysia, Brunei, Japan, Sub-Continent and Middle East. Tan is responsible for driving the bank’s growth in Greater China, as well as for expanding its presence through collaborative partners OCBC Wing Hang and Bank of Ningbo. Tan also became the GM head of Japan. Vikram Malhotra became the global market head responsible building growth in Sub Continent, Middle East and North Africa out of Singapore and Dubai. Olivier Denis covers the Malaysia market, in addition to the markets that he is currently responsible for - Singapore and International. Robin Heng became GM head of Thai and IndoChina, in addition to Indonesia and Philippines, as well as Core Wealth Segment.

The managing director of Singapore’s financial regulator was re-appointed to his post for two years. The Monetary Authority of Singapore said that Ravi Menon was re-appointed as a member of the MAS board of directors and as managing director of MAS for a further term of two years with effect from 1 June.

BNP Paribas, made senior roles in its Asia wealth management arm. Ernest Leung, chief executive for Singapore and chief operating officer for the Asia-Pacific region, moved to Hong Kong at the start of this year. Ricardo Sanchez-Moreno was appointed head of wealth management, Southeast Asia. He has worked at the Paris-listed firm since 2005; in 2016, he moved to Singapore to be market head for Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia. The market head for Singapore and Malaysia, meanwhile, is David Koay, who is a managing direcdtor and who joined the firm in February from Standard Chartered, where he had worked with ultra-wealthy clients. Inge Kua was appointed head of Indonesia. Kua has worked at the bank for a quarter of a century.