April was a busy month for appointments and moves in the Asia-Pacific region, with organisations such as the Family Office Association Hong Kong, Citigroup, Farro Capital and Nomura among the standouts.

Impax Asset Management, the UK-based investment firm focused on “sustainable investments,” appointed Yasumitsu Iwasa as head of Japan. Iwasa has almost 30 years’ investment banking and fund management experience in Japan. Prior to joining Impax in March, he was head of Japan at Fullerton Fund Management, an asset management arm of Temasek Group. 

Brown Advisory, which opened an office in Japan, appointed Toshiyuki Murasawa, a financial services veteran with over 25 years’ experience, as head of Japan Office. Murasawa was formerly at Credit Suisse Asset Management. He reports to Walter Beckett, head of Asia Pacific, who relocated to Singapore from London in 2019.

Union Bancaire PrivĂ©e appointed Andrew Chin as team head, North Asia. Based in Hong Kong, Chin reports to Ivan Wong, region head North Asia and chief executive Hong Kong. Chin was most recently desk head – UHNW Hong Kong at HSBC Global Private Banking, where he managed a team of senior relationship managers and worked closely with institutional family offices in Asia. Prior to that, he was head of investment counselling, also at HSBC Global Private Banking, covering Hong Kong, the Philippines and international markets. 

DBS appointed venture capitalist David Ho to the boards of DBS Group Holdings and DBS Bank. Following the appointment, Ho stepped down from the board of DBS Bank (Hong Kong), which he has served on since March 2019. Ho is chairman and founder of Kiina Investment, a venture capital company that invests in startups in the technology, media and telecommunications industries. He also serves as a member of the boards of Air Products and Chemicals Inc, US-based Qorvo, Sun Life Financial and Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada.

Citigroup appointed Vikram Singh as chief executive for its Malaysia business. He replaced Usman Ahmed who has joined National Bank of Bahrain as CEO. Singh also has oversight of the Citi Solutions Centers in Malaysia. He reports to Amol Gupte, South Asia and ASEAN head for Citigroup. Singh, who joined Citigroup in 1999, has 24 years’ corporate banking experience, managing 18 markets in Asia-Pacific.

Thomas Lloyd, the impact investment solutions business, appointed Nadir Maruf as chief investment officer to drive the firm’s expansion. Maruf joined ThomasLloyd’s executive management team, reporting to Michael Sieg, the group chief executive officer. He is responsible for developing and executing the group’s investment strategy, helping to drive the firm’s expansion as an impact investor in sustainable energy infrastructure projects across Asia, drawing on more than 25 years’ experience in alternative investments.

Manulife Hong Kong appointed Thaddeus Yu as chief strategy officer and Alice Li as chief communications officer for its Hong Kong and Macau operations. They report directly to Patrick Graham, chief executive officer of Manulife Hong Kong and Macau. Yu succeeded Carrie Tong, who was recently appointed as chief operations officer for Hong Kong and Macau. A qualified actuary with over 15 years of experience in various local and regional positions at Cigna, AIA, and Bank of Montreal Insurance, Yu joined Manulife's Asia Strategy team in 2021. 

Li’s responsibilities include leading strategy development for external and internal communication goals, building the corporate reputation and a culture of pride, and promoting the company's global Impact Agenda, aligned with Manulife’s global communications team and strategy. With more than two decades of experience in corporate and marketing communications, Li is a seasoned professional who joined Manulife in 2020. 

Franklin Templeton appointed former Eastspring figure Benjarong Techamuanvivit to the newly-created role of head of Thailand Business. Techamuanvivit, who is based in Singapore, reports to Christian Bucaro, head of retail for Asia at Franklin Templeton. 

With more than 20 years of industry experience in Thailand’s financial services industry, Techamuanvivit previously worked as deputy managing director, head of corporate strategy, product, digital and marketing at Eastspring Asset Management (Thailand) Co. 

Simons & Simmons, the international law firm, appointed Angelia Chia as a partner in the banking and finance team in Singapore. Chia has more than 25 years of experience in trade and commodity finance. 

Julius Baer made a number of Southeast Asia leadership appointments, including making Chin Lit Lee as head of Southeast Asia, and Yee Kim Tan as Singapore branch manager. Kevin Tay took on Tan’s previous role as group head for Southeast Asia. Tay most recently served as head of wealth planning and family office services. He reports to Tan in his new role.

Yee Kim Tan was most recently group head of Southeast Asia at the bank. Prior to joining Julius Baer in 2015, he worked with Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank and JP Morgan. He reports to Jimmy Lee, member of the executive board, Julius Baer Group and head of the Asia-Pacific region. Tan reports to Lee. This new responsibility added to Tan’s roles as Greater China (Singapore) location head and group head. In his expanded position, he oversees the Singapore branch’s daily operations, risk controls, and governance. Benjamin Sim continued in his role as deputy branch manager and chief operating officer in Singapore.

Knight Frank expanded its Private Office to Hong Kong and appointed Ho-Pin Tung as head. Tung, a Dutch-born Chinese who grew up and was educated in the Netherlands before returning to Asia, joined Knight Frank with a one-of-a-kind network. With a career as a professional racing car driver, Tung made history as the first Chinese racing car driver in Formula 1 and IndyCar and won multiple international championships, including the 24 Hours Le Mans race, the world’s largest automotive endurance race. He was also the co-founder and executive of Jackie Chan DC Racing. Tung leads Knight Frank’s newly-created Private Office in Hong Kong, advising private clients on their global real estate portfolios.

Farro Capital, a Singapore-based wealth management platform and multi-family office, appointed Vincent Valladares as a senior advisor. Valladares has more than 27 years’ international financial services experience in India, the Middle East, Singapore, and Australia. He has held several leadership positions within financial institutions, including executive director at Bank of Singapore; head of commercial banking at RBL Bank; and managing director, Middle East head of commercial banking at Citibank.

Janus Henderson Investors appointed the former head of funds distribution at Aberdeen Standard Investments, Shanice Loo. In her newly-created role, she is director of sales management. Among various tasks, Loo coordinates sales campaigns, oversees the distribution team workflow and manages Janus Henderson’s master agent relationship in Taiwan. Loo reports to head of intermediary sales, Asia ex Japan, Alexander Ng, who joined the firm in July 2022.

The Family Office Association Hong Kong appointed Teresa Lee, Michel Lee and Grant Ko to chair the newly-launched Wealth Management Sub Committee, Crypto Sub Committee and Education and Research Sub Committee respectively.

With over 20 years of banking experience focusing on private wealth and family offices, Lee specialises in providing solutions for high net worth clients in Greater China. Michel Lee is currently the executive president of HashKey Group. He has more than 25 years of international investment banking experience. Grant Ko, who is the co-founder and chairman of Wisdom Group Holdings, has over 25 years of experience in the financial services industry at multinational private banks covering the Greater China region. He also has experience in the asset management sector, advising wealthy families and individuals as well as corporates on wealth planning, portfolio management and investment markets. 

Nomura appointed former Citi Private Bank top figure Dr Rudolf Hitsch in the newly-created role of head of North Asia for its international wealth management business. He had the same role at the private bank of Citigroup. Working in the private banking sector for 25 years, Dr Hitsch spent more than 12 years at Citigroup, building its offshore mainland China and Taiwan private banking business and overseeing the growth of the Hong Kong business. Prior to that, he spent another 12 years at Goldman Sachs Private Wealth Management in Hong Kong, where his last assignment was to lead a China team.

HSBC Bank (Singapore) appointed two new directors to join its board: Sam Liew and Colin Bell. Liew is managing partner, government strategic business group at Singtel NCS Group. Prior to this role, he was managing director at GIC’s technology group and headed up its business partner and solutions division.

Bell, who is chief executive at HSBC Bank and HSBC Europe, joined the UK/Hong Kong-listed group in July 2016 where he has served in a number of senior roles. Before this, he was at UBS working as head of compliance and operational risk control and, prior to that, he spent 16 years in the British Army. A former top EFG Bank figure in Singapore, among recent moves, earlier this year he moved to HSBC Private Banking. Manoj Ramarao took up the post of managing director, head of global India business.