The latest moves and appointments in the Asia-Pacific wealth management sector during September.

EFG International appointed Seamus Yin as market group head for Hong Kong and China, “Ultra Clients.” In addition, Miao Miao and Lianghan Chen were named team heads and client relationship officers, respectively, both reporting directly to Yin. 

Yin, who has more than a decade of experience in the sector, was previously managing director, global market manager of mainland China offshore – South and West, at Citi Private Bank in Hong Kong. Prior to this, Yin worked at JP Morgan Private Bank in Hong Kong. Miao and Chen have worked at Citi Private Bank. Miao was previously a director and team head at Citi Private Bank.

Other additions include CROs Jack Wu, Ruby Chen and Savannah Sun who are also senior veterans in the industry.

Union Bancaire Privée in Hong Kong named Ivan Tam as team head and Calvin Poon as relationship manager. Based in Hong Kong, Poon reports to Tam; Tam reports to Teresa Lee, the Hong Kong CEO and region head for north Asia. Separately, Leslie Ching was appointed as lead investment consultant, UHNW business.

Berlin-headquartered private equity platform Moonfare, whose APAC business is based in Singapore, hired Blackstone and EQT alumnus Adam Banks as its new Singapore-based head of the Asia-Pacific region. At Blackstone, Banks was a Singapore-based principal. Previously, he worked in London as a vice president for Brookfield Asset Management, as a manager for EQT Group and an investment banking associate for Jubilee Financial Products. 

WRISE Prestige, a subsidiary of Singapore-based WRISE Group, appointed Henry Shin as its new CEO. With more than 26 years’ experience, Shin took on the CEO responsibilities and day-to-day operations from Jowin Fung, who moved to focus on his vice chairman role. Both persons report to Stephen Yan, chairman, WRISE Prestige.

Vistra, which provides business services, appointed Kevin Smythe as country managing director for Japan. With over five and a half years in Japan at Vistra and a former Tricor employee, Smythe served in roles as director of sales and marketing and leader of the company secretarial service line.

S64, the alternatives fintech and solutions partner to the wealth management industry, appointed Gaurav Katyal as Asia-Pacific chief operating officer, based in Singapore. With more than 28 years of financial services experience, Katyal’s career includes 22 years at Deutsche Bank where he latterly served as head of frontier markets.

S64 also appointed Shawn Ko as head of South Korea, based in Seoul. Ko is a financial markets and alternative investment specialist with 20 years' experience focused on South Korea. Prior to S64, he worked for 15 years at Deutsche Bank, leading coverage of South Korean financial institutions.

LGT Wealth India, part of Liechtenstein’s LGT, appointed Poonam Mirchandani as managing director for the wealth planning and family solutions division; Based in Mumbai, Mirchandani works with the LGT Wealth India team to expand its offerings in succession and estate planning. She also helps with wealth management, global mobility, and philanthropy, reports said. Prior to this, Mirchandani served in senior roles at Barclays Private Bank for more than 13 years. She also worked at Vistra ITCL India.

The Westpac board of directors appointed Anthony Miller as group CEO and managing director. Miller, chief executive of Westpac’s business and wealth division, is to succeed Peter King, who will be retiring after a 30-year career at Westpac, including five years as CEO. Prior to joining Westpac, Miller was Deutsche Bank’s CEO of Australia/NZ and co-head of Investment Bank, APAC.

BNY Investments, part of BNY, appointed Masaaki Sakakibara as head of Japan. Formerly at Mercer Japan, Sakakibara reports to Doni Shamsuddin, CEO for Asia-Pacific at BNY Investments. Sakakibara replaced Katsutoshi Endo, who retired in June this year. At Mercer, Sakakibara was wealth business country leader and CEO of Mercer Investments (Japan).

JP Morgan appointed Kwang Kam Shing as its new Hong Kong chief executive, taking the helm from Harshika Patel, who has stayed on as head of the firm’s private bank in Asia. Kwang, who reports to Sjoerd Leenart, the Asia-Pacific CEO, oversees local governance, coordination, and controls. She will also continue to foster employee and community engagement in the Hong Kong operation. Patel, who was the Hong Kong CEO for three years, took over from Kwang as CEO of the Asia private bank in October last year.

Hang Seng Bank appointed Derek Ngai as the head of audit. Ngai took over from Jennifer Zhou, who completed her six-year tenure at Hang Seng Bank. Before joining the bank, Ngai was the audit head for Hong Kong and Macau at HSBC. He has also served in various audit and banking roles at HSBC over the past decade.

Lazard Asset Management (LAM) hired Ada Zhang as director of China sales. Zhang is based in Hong Kong. Prior to joining LAM, Zhang spent 11 years at Capital Group Investment Management where she was managing director – head of Greater China, institutional.

L&G Asset Management made a number of Asia region appointments. Russell Huang was named as head of wholesale distribution for Southeast Asia, and Aaron Kwan was named wholesale distribution head for Greater China.

Huang, who has more than 15 years’ industry experience, was most recently executive director at UBS where he advised regional clients on portfolio asset allocation decisions and managed solutions investments. Kwan has been active in the banking and asset management space globally for 16 years. He was most recently director, retail distribution at HSBC Asset Management, Hong Kong. Both men report to Gerald Koh, head of wholesale Asia (ex-Japan), who is based in Singapore.

In other moves, L&G’s Asset Management arm brought in Choong Yew Thong as research analyst in the Singapore office. Most recently, Choong Yew Thong was a quantitative analyst at GIC. Kate Lim joined as ESG analyst, working with Trista Chen, head of investment stewardship for Asia ex-Japan.