This publication carried a number of exclusives on moves and appointments in Asian wealth management market.

BNY Mellon Investment Management announced a new management team for its Asian business.

Lindsay Wright was appointed head of distribution, Asia-Pacific. Based in Hong Kong, she leads the firm's distribution efforts across financial institutions, governments, sovereign wealth funds and intermediaries in the region. The leadership structure in the Asia-Pacific region was newly developed, with two co-heads of the business: Wright works alongside Doni Shamsuddin, chief product and operating officer, reporting into Matt Oomen, international head of distribution (based in London).  In Singapore, Nicolas Kopitsis heads the intermediary distribution for Asia, ex-Japan, reporting Wright. With more than 30 years’ experience in senior leadership and distribution roles, Wright previously worked with Invesco as regional head of institutional, alternatives and investment solutions. 

Fusang, the family offices services firm, appointed Chan Heng Wing, founding chairman of the Milken Institute Asia Center and now its senior advisor, to its board of directors. He is also senior advisor in Singapore’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and non-resident high commissioner to the People’s Republic of Bangladesh. Before assuming the roles, he was managing director of international relations at Temasek International in Singapore and chief representative in China for Temasek Holdings prior to that. He retired from Temasek International in October 2011 and is currently independent director of Banyan Tree Holdings, Frasers Centrepoint and the holding companies of Fullerton Bay and Fullerton Hotel.

Hang Seng Bank appointed one of its senior staff to the role of head of retail banking and wealth management, following the retirement of a predecessor. Margaret Kwan took up the role, replacing Nixon Chan, who retired from the post. Chan remains on the board and is a non-executive director. Simon Yuen, head of customer value management, took the position of head of consumer assets from Kwan. Kwan joined Hang Seng's retail marketing department in 1995 with a background in advertising and sales promotion.

Allianz Global Investors appointed Deborah Zurkow, chief investment officer and head of infrastructure debt, to the new role of head of alternatives. Zurkow joined the firm’s global executive committee. Zurkow led the firm's infrastructure debt platform since 2012.

Societe Generale appointed Andrew Kim as chief country officer, Korea and branch manager of the bank’s Seoul branch. Based in Seoul, Kim reports to Hikaru Ogata, chief executive, Asia-Pacific at Societe Generale. Kim took over from Raphael Cheminat, who took on another position within the group. Following the appointment, Jey Hyung Rhee replaced him as head of debt capital markets, Korea, reporting to Laurent Morel, head of debt capital markets and advisory, Asi- Pacific. Meanwhile, Gun-Suk Chai replaced Kim as head of financial institutions group, Korea. These roles are both within SG Securities Korea and have a local reporting line to Inhwan Oh, chief executive of SG Securities Korea. Kim previously worked under SG Securities Korea. 

Australia and New Zealand Banking Group appointed Michelle Jablko as chief financial officer, taking the helm from Graham Hodges, who held the position on an acting basis. Hodges now focuses on his role as deputy chief executive. Jablko reports to CEO Shayne Elliott. She previously worked at investment bank Greenhill & Co, where she was managing director and co-head for Australia since 2014. Prior to this, she was at UBS in Australia from 2000. She takes up her new position on 18 July. 

DBS Private Bank appointed Rob Ioannou, former co-head of HSBC Private Bank in Singapore, to take up a role leading its international team.

Manulife Indonesia, part of Canada-headquartered financial group Manulife, appointed Indren Naidoo as its new chief executive. He is based in Jakarta. He replaced Chris Bendl, former CEO and president director. Prior to his new position, Naidoo was regional CEO for Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia at the same firm, a role he held since 2013.

Friends Provident International, part of the UK-based Aviva group of financial organisations, appointed Andrew Waddell as managing director for Singapore, subject to local regulatory clearance. Chris Gill, formerly the MD in Singapore, left the group for family reasons. Waddell was previously principal and executive director at Lahinch Partners. Prior to that, he co-led the establishment of AMP Advice, following the merger between AMP and AXA Australia. Based in Singapore, Waddell oversees the FPI business in the local market.

Wealth technology firm Avaloq appointed Jürg Hunziker as group chief markets officer and deputy chief executive. The former SunGard executive joined the Switzerland-headquartered firm on 1 June.

Previously, he spent 27 years at US-based technology firm SunGard, founding SunGard Europe. Most recently, he acted as SunGard’s group president for the global trading, risk and private banking software and services business.

Dagmar Maria Kamber Borens, previously chief financial officer in Asia at UBS, took on the role of chief operating officer at the Swiss universal bank of Credit Suisse. Antoine Boublil held that role on an interim basis. When Credit Suisse (Switzerland) is launched in the final quarter of this year, Kamber’s role will widen the remit of the COO and reduce the number of reports to the entity’s chief executive, Thomas Gottstein. Kamber also took on overall responsibility for IT, headed by Mario Crameri; operations, headed by Marcel Schuler; and communications and marketing, headed by Béatrice Fischer. From the start of October, Crameri, Schuler and Fischer were due to report directly to Kamber. Kamber also reports to the global COO, Pierre-Olivier Bouée, and to Peter Goerke, head of human resources, communication and branding.

ABN AMRO Private Banking appointed Amrit Uppal as managing director for its world South Asian services and international team. Based in Singapore, Uppal reports to Lee Chang Tze, head of private banking, Southeast Asia. He has held positions with several global banks such as Barclays Wealth Asia and Credit Suisse in the UK. Most recently, he was with EFG Banking Singapore, where he was MD, global head of South Asian clients.

Joseph Poon, head of ultra-high net worth for South East Asia at UBS, and two senior figures, left the wealth management firm. Poon left along with Duncan Ong and Urs Grueter, who both held senior roles in the wealth management business. Poon had been at UBS since May 2012, having previously served as managing director at Julius Baer, where he was a member of the firm's Asia executive committee.

A senior banker at Bank J Safra Sarasin in Asia-Pacific left to pursue other interests. Scott Duncan left the firm – the bank gave no other details. Three years ago, Duncan was promoted to vice chair of client advisory. He was previously a managing director at the bank. That move followed the departure of the former vice chair of client advisory for Southeast Asia, Febby Avianto. Avianto subsequently joined RBC Wealth Management as managing director and market manager.

Nikko Asset Management appointed Yuichi Alex Takayama as global head of sales (international business). Takayama serves as both head of international business development and of the sales planning division. With more than 20 years of asset management experience, Takayama’s career has taken him to Tokyo, New York and London, mainly as a portfolio manager and senior analyst for Chuo Mitsui Trust & Banking (now Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings) and Mizuho Trust & Banking Co. His most recent postings were as chief executive of the European unit of Tokio Marine and Asset Management Co, and head of international sales.

Bank of Singapore appointed former UBS employee Catherine Vannavong as an RM in Singapore. A former co-chief executive at Deutsche Bank, Anshu Jain, partnered with former colleague Bhupinder Singh to launch a non-bank finance company in India. Jain left the German lender in June last year.

Alibaba appointed former Goldman Sachs banker Douglas Feagin to lead its Ant Financial Services Group, heading its international business.

Credit Suisse made two senior appointments for its Asian private banking operations. Carole Cheung, formerly a senior manager and team head at BNP Paribas Wealth Management in Asia, joined the lender as MD, and market group head for the Philippines. Cheung reports to Benjamin Cavalli, who is head of Southeast Asia at the Asia-Pacific private banking arm of the Swiss bank. 

Stella Kong, meanwhile, joined as MD and as an additional market group head for China, reporting to Francois Monnet, head of Greater China, private banking, Asia-Pacific. (The bank has Alex Ng as market group head, China, and Credit Suisse is expanding leadership and management capacity.)  Previously, Kong was managing director and deputy regional head of private banking for Greater China and North Asia as well as market head for China at Standard Chartered Private Bank. She has more than 30 years’ of industry experience.

The man hired from fintech trailblazer Paypal to drive digital changes at Credit Suisse left to join a German bank. Holger Spielberg is to take on the role of group technology officer at Aareal Bank in Wiesbaden, with effect from 1 July. He has been at Credit Suisse for two years, holding the post of director of digital private banking.

A former chief investment officer for Julius Baer in the UK moved to a similar role at Bank of Singapore. Johan Jooste, who is based in Singapore, was previously CIO at Azure Wealth for just over a year.

From June 2014 to January 2015 he was CIO, UK, at Julius Baer. He was also head of the investment office (UK) at the same firm from July 2013 to January 2015. From August 2008 to July 2013 he was chief market strategist at Merrill Lynch Wealth Management, the business that was acquired more than two years ago by Julius Baer. From June 1999 to June 2008 he was head of international fixed income at RMB Asset Management.

An ultra-high net worth private banker at BNP Paribas, Carole Cheung, left the firm. She was based in Hong Kong.

Herbert Smith Freehills' private wealth practice promoted one of its Hong Kong-based lawyers to a China-focused role. Joanna Caen was head of private wealth for China; she was recently been admitted to practice in Hong Kong. Prior to joining the firm in early 2015, Caen was formerly head of private client litigation at Simpson Grierson, the New Zealand-based law firm.

Offshore law firm Appleby appointed Fiona Chan as partner to its Hong Kong office for its Asia banking and finance practice. Chan advised clients on various offshore jurisdictions and joins Appleby after working for about five years offshore in Hong Kong. She has also spent 10 years onshore with the London and Hong Kong offices of Clifford Chance. 

Knight Frank, the international property consultancy, appointed Alan Liu as managing director for China. The newly-created role is based in Shanghai. Liu, who has worked in the real estate sector for 23 years, reports to Piers Brunner, chief executive for Greater China. Previously, he was managing director, North Asia, at Colliers International for 14 years. 

Salamanca Group appointed Gordon Stuart as managing director of Salamanca Group Trust (Mauritius). Stuart joined with immediate effect and completes a handover process with Steve Whitley, the current MD, who decided to leave Mauritius to be closer to his children. 

Stuart has 18 years of experience in the private client and trust industry in South Africa. He joined from Sentinel International Advisory Services, a South African fiduciary services company, where he was most recently the group chief operating officer. He held that position since March 2009.

Julius Baer appointed Angela Bow as head of emerging Asia, a newly-created role. Bow leads the Swiss bank’s efforts to strengthen its wealth management franchise in the Philippine and Thai markets. Based in Hong Kong, she reports to Jimmy Lee, head of Asia-Pacific at Julius Baer. Bow has more than 30 years of experience in international private banking across Hong Kong, Tokyo, Geneva and New York, holding senior relationship management and market leadership roles. She joined from Credit Suisse, where she was most recently market group head for the Philippines and deputy market area head for Japan and emerging Asia. Previously, Bow worked at UBS Wealth Management for 14 years and the last position held was country team head for the Philippines market. She also worked at Citibank Private Bank and Swiss Bank Corporation Private Bank earlier in her career.

Citigroup appointed Amol Gupte as Citi country officer for Singapore and head of ASEAN, taking over from Michael Zinko, who left the bank. Gupte relocated to Singapore. He continues to report to Francisco Aristeguieta and participate in the Asia-Pacific operating committee. A 27–year Citi veteran, Gupte was head of trade and treasury solutions for Asia-Pacific since 2012. Previously, he served in a number of senior TTS roles in North America, EMEA and Asia. He started his career with Citi in the consumer bank in India with roles in sales, product management and treasury.

HSBC Private Bank appointed Chris Harwood as market head for Malaysia, global private banking, Southeast Asia. He replaces Michael Hua, who left the bank. Hua joined HSBC Private Bank in 2004 and was responsible for its market plans for Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam. Harwood, who was with HSBC for 15 years, led the bank's intra group business development and private wealth entrepreneurs teams in Southeast Asia since 2010.