The latest senior moves and appointments in the Asia-Pacific region's wealth management industry.

Ravi Menon, director general of the Monetary Authority of Singapore since 2011, was re-appointed to the post for a stint taking him to 31 May 2023.

MAS appointed Lawrence Wong, Minister for Finance, and Deborah Ong to join its board of directors for a term of three years from 1 June 2021 to 31 May 2024. MAS also announced the re-appointments of existing board members.

Ong recently retired as a partner of PricewaterhouseCoopers Singapore. She is a board member and chair of the audit and risk committees of SkillsFuture Singapore, Workforce Singapore, the Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine at the Nanyang Technological University, and the Council for Estate Agencies. She is also a board member of SATS Ltd.

Lim Hng Kiang, who has served on the MAS board for 23 years and as its deputy chairman since 2006, stepped down but remained as a member of the board. Ong Ye Kung, Minister for Health, who has served as a member of the MAS board since 29 August 2016, stepped down.

Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Senior Minister and coordinating minister for social policies, was re-appointed as chairman of the MAS board for a further term of three years, from 1 June 2021 to 31 May 2024.  

Raffles Family Office appointed former Leonteq figure, Julien Grunebaum, as an investment solutions advisor. At Leonteq, which specialises in structured products, Grunebaum served family offices and asset managers on distributing cross-asset investment solutions.

Kamet Capital Partners, a multi-family office based in Singapore, made two hires: Sze King Chong as portfolio manager, and Xunwen Oh as client advisor. Chong previously worked at Commonwealth Avenue Asset Management, a hedge fund company, and as a senior portfolio manager at Julius Baer’s discretionary investment management. Before that, he was chief investment officer at HSBC Insurance. Oh joined the MFO from JP Morgan Private Bank, where she performed client advisor and global investment specialist roles.

Dutch multinational ING appointed James Poon as country manager for Hong Kong and China, beginning in July. Poon was also named as chief executive of ING’s Hong Kong branch. He is a regional veteran at the bank and currently heads diversified corporates and corporate finance for both Hong Kong and China. With more than 30 years’ experience in corporate and investment banking, 28 of them spent at ING, Poon took over from another senior figure in the region, Aart Jan den Hartog, who left ING to return to Europe.

Poon reports to Remko Witteveen, head of wholesale banking for ING in Asia Pacific, where he has overall performance responsibility for the wholesale banking business in Hong Kong and mainland China. Poon was a member of the Chinese Communist Party's People's PCC in Changsha City between 2017 and 2019, and spent more than 15 years as an adjunct professor for a joint MBA in finance programme at Tsinghua University and the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He holds a PhD in finance from the Chinese University of Hong Kong. His predecessor at the Dutch global bank, Aart Jan den Hartog, joined ING 16 years ago and served in various leadership roles in Asia, including head of real estate finance for APAC. He was appointed head of Greater China and Mongolia in 2015.

GAM Investments, the Zurich-listed house, set up a new office in Singapore, led by Terence Bong, who is responsible for business development and client relationships in Singapore and the South East Asia region. Bong, based in Singapore, reports to Rossen Djounov, head of Asia-Pacific.

Prior to this role, Bong was head of wholesale for Southeast Asia at Templeton Asset Management, where he was responsible for distribution to private banks, independent financial advisors, insurance companies and consumer banks across Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines.

Aviva Singlife, the group formed from the S$3.2 billion ($2.41 billion) merge of Aviva and Singapore Life, has appointed former DBS senior figure Pearlyn Phau as the new group chief executive. Subject to regulatory approval, Phau’s CEO appointment will be effective on 18 August. Also subject to regulatory approval, she will take on additional roles as executive director and CEO of the group’s two Singapore licensed insurers, Singlife and Aviva Singapore.

When Phau takes up her role, Nishit Majmudar will step down from his executive and board roles to become a senior advisor to the board. Walter de Oude, who has acted as group CEO prior to Phau’s appointment, will continue on the board as deputy chairman, Aviva Singlife Holdings. Phau has undertaken various senior leadership roles within DBS Group, both in Singapore and Hong Kong. She is the group head of consumer products, marketing and ecosystem partnerships. Prior to this, she was the deputy group head of consumer banking and wealth management. Phau has also spent four years in Hong Kong as the head of consumer banking and wealth management, DBS Bank Hong Kong.  

Credit Suisse appointed Alois Müller as head of private and alternative markets for the Asia-Pacific region, a new role at the bank. Müller, who moved to Hong Kong, reports regionally to François Monnet, head of private banking North Asia and Benjamin Cavalli, head of private banking South Asia, and functionally to Fabian Shey, head of investment solutions and products, private and alternative markets. This new appointment added to his role as head of global private equity, which he retained and continued to lead with Fabian Shey.

A Credit Suisse senior banker was recruited by Swiss rival UBS to run its telecommunications, media and technology advisory team in Sydney, partnering with Brendan Mulheron. Tim McKessar had been at Credit Suisse since 2007 and most recently led its local TMT team.

Citigroup said that Lee Lung Nien was heading its private banking business in South Asia, adding to his existing role as chairman of Citi Private Bank for South Asia. Global market managers in South Asia report to the 30-year Citi veteran, known as “Lung” in the industry. He has direct responsibility for the Singapore and Malaysia markets. Lee Lung Nien remains based in Singapore, reporting to Steven Lo, Asia-Pacific regional head of Citi Private Bank and Amol Gupte, ASEAN head and Citi country officer for Singapore.

Lee Lung Nien has worked in a variety of senior leadership roles across multiple businesses, functional areas, and geographies, including being the CEO of Citi Malaysia from 2014 to 2020. Prior to Malaysia, he served as the co-head of corporate sales and structuring for markets and securities services, chief operating officer for Singapore and AML business head of Asia-Pacific. He is a qualified chartered banker and a fellow of the Asia Institute of Chartered Bankers.  

JP Morgan Private Bank appointed Elaine Zhang as China market leader for Singapore. Zhang, who is based in Singapore, reports to James Wey, head of Singapore and Southeast Asia at the private bank. Zhang is a managing director responsible for leading, growing and developing the firm’s China market in Singapore.

With more than 20 years in the private banking industry, she has extensive expertise in servicing ultra-high net worth Chinese clients and leading successful teams of China market relationship managers. Most recently Zhang was market leader for Greater China in Singapore at Credit Suisse, where she served for more than a decade, cultivating the firm’s Greater China client base in Singapore.

iCapital Network named its first Asian leadership hire. It appointed Edwin Chan as head of client solutions, Asia. Additionally, the firm has named Manuel Faccio as head of client solutions, Europe.

Chan is based in Hong Kong, where iCapital opened a new office. Faccio is based in iCapital’s Zurich office.

Chan has more than 20 years’ experience in financial services, with the most recent decade focused on private markets origination and distribution of private funds in the Asia-Pacific region. He established Probitas Partners’ Asian business, where he developed relationships with fund sponsors and institutional investors, including fund advisors, wealth managers and family office investors investing across private equity, private debt, and real assets strategies globally. Previously, he served as a regional business development director for AIG Global Investments’ investment products in Asia. Chan began his career in the corporate and investment banking sector with HSBC and Citibank.

Faccio manages the entire enterprise sales cycle for the EMEA region and promotes business development activities with a primary focus on wealth management organisations, banks, and asset managers in Europe. Faccio reports to Marco Bizzozero, managing director, head of international. Prior to this, Faccio spent a decade-long career in investment banking at Deutsche Bank in London. He moved to asset management where he held several senior positions in London and Zurich, most recently as head of coverage for Switzerland and Southern Europe and CEO of Switzerland for DWS Asset Management.
 

Savills Investment Management appointed Greg Lapham as head of investment, Australia. Lapham, who manages a newly-appointed four-strong investment team in Sydney, has more than 30 years’ experience across real estate investment, financial reporting, corporate finance, consulting and transaction advisory. He joined Savills IM from BlackRock, where he was a managing director and chief investment officer of the AsiaPac real estate business. Lapham is supported by investment director Guy Sainsbury, who recently joined Savills IM from Lendlease, where he worked in various senior development, capital raising and origination roles.

Credit Suisse made several senior private banking appointments in North Asia, including that of Keng Cheong Lock, who took up the post of market group head, private banking for Greater China Singapore. Keng Cheong Lock leads the Singapore-based team that covers the Greater China market. A banker with almost 20 years of wealth management experience, Keng Cheong Lock joined the Swiss bank in 2007.

Other senior hires included:

Ray Chun joined the bank’s China market in January as an expert relationship manager based in Hong Kong. He has more than 15 years of experience in the banking industry covering corporate wealth management, cross-border cash management solutions and trade finance. Chun was previously at Citibank where he led the global digital segment.

Terence Seah has joined the Greater China Singapore market as a team leader based in Singapore, bringing more than 15 years’ banking and wealth management experience. Before joining Credit Suisse, Seah was with UOB Private Bank.

Harry Chen joined the Greater China Singapore market as an RM based in Singapore. He has 13 years’ industry experience, and was previously a relationship manager for Julius Baer.

Maggie Ma was appointed to join the Greater China Singapore market as an expert RM, based in Singapore. She has more than 15 years’ experience in the sector, and was branch president of China Minsheng Bank in Shanghai for nine years. Before joining Credit Suisse, she was with UBS Singapore and ABN AMRO.

In addition, Credit Suisse added to its investment consulting team:

Thomas So, who has joined the bank as an investment consultant based in Hong Kong, has more than 20 years of experience in foreign exchange advisory sales, derivatives and treasury sales to institutional and private banking clients. In his most recent role, So was a senior investment advisor at BNP Paribas Wealth Management.

Wilson Chan re-joined Credit Suisse as a team leader, investment consulting business initiatives, North Asia and expert investment consultant, Greater China based in Hong Kong. Chan was formerly at Wealth Management where he was an investment consultant. Prior to that, Chan spent 12 years at Credit Suisse as investment consulting cluster head.

Thomas Ang, who is the head of family office services for Asia-Pacific, relocated to Hong Kong with an expanded remit. Adding to his work in Southeast Asia, Ang focuses on accelerating the development of the wealth planning services platform in Hong Kong. He continues to report to Bernard Fung, head of wealth planning services Asia-Pacific.

Working with Ang is Jennie Lau, appointed as a family office specialist based in Hong Kong. Prior to joining the bank, Lau was senior legal counsel at Chow Tai Fook Enterprises, where she advised the group primarily on investments, treasury transactions and family office operational governance.

State Street appointed Neil Macdonald as head of its asset managers segment in the Asia-Pacific region, a new role for the firm. In this new role for State Street, Macdonald heads up its engagement strategy for asset manager clients in Asia-Pacific, including strategic direction, solutions structuring; he will be responsible for the overall growth of the segment. Based in Hong Kong, Macdonald reports globally to Donna Milrod, head of the global asset managers' segment and the global clients' arm, and regionally to Mostapha Tahiri, chief executive officer for Asia-Pacific.

DBS appointed a new group head of investment products and advisory, Calvin Ong. The position fits inside DBS’ consumer banking and wealth management division. Prior to this, Ong was deputy corporate treasurer. He joined DBS in 2007 as an analyst and has worked in various roles, such as structured product advisory.

Bank Rakyat Indonesia reportedly announced that its subsidiary PT. Bank Rakyat Indonesia Agroniaga (BRI Agro) had appointed Kaspar Situmorang as its new chief executive. Previously the division head of digital bank development and operations at Bank BRI, Situmorang also led its Digital Centers of Excellence division from 2017 to late 2020.

Mercer – part of US-listed Marsh McLennan – appointed Fred Wen, who is based in Shanghai, as wealth business leader for China. Wen reports to Catherine Li, chief executive, Greater China, Mercer. He joined the regional team led by Janet Li, Asia wealth business leader at Mercer. With close to 15 years of experience in financial services, investments and consulting, Wen joined Mercer from Ping An Life Insurance Company of China where he was executive director and senior portfolio manager. Prior to this, he was senior investment consultant, investment services, at Willis Towers Watson, where he was responsible for the firm’s investment-related business in China.

Quilter International appointed Nicholas Kourteff as chief executive in Singapore to expand advice and distribution for HNWs and family offices in the region. He took over from Ian Kloss, who recently relocated to the UK, and works alongside his Hong Kong counterpart, Mark Christal, to strengthen Quilter’s pan-Asian high net worth team. Kourteff was previously CEO in Singapore for high net worth insurance provider Transamerica Life Bermuda.