February was a busy month for moves in Asia with some high-profile changes, several of which were exclusive reports from this news service.

Citi Private Bank has appointed a former Bank of Singapore man as team head/senior private banker for Malaysia. Leon Lee joined the US firm after having worked at BoS for more than 11 years, joining that firm in 2004. He is based in Singapore.

Credit Suisse appointed a new head of alternative investments for its Asia-Pacific private banking arm. Donald Rice was named for the role. In the role, Rice is based out of Singapore and reports to Rajesh Manwani, head of investment solutions and products at the private banking business for Asia-Pacific. The role had been previously held by Michael Levin; he held dual role as head of asset management products in the non-Japan region of Asia and the head of alternatives for private banking Asia-Pacific. Levin recently took on the expanded role as head of asset management for Asia-Pacific.

Rice has been at the lender for 19 years, most recently as head of the alternative investments coverage team within the international wealth management division of Credit Suisse, based in Zurich. Prior to this role, he established the area for structuring and marketing of fund of hedge fund products for the firm’s various distribution channels. Additionally, he has been involved in strategy coverage and due diligence on tactical trading and fixed income-based strategies.

Standard Chartered confirmed that a Singapore-based senior private banker left the firm. Connie Ong, who has been at the bank since June 2007, stepped down from her role. At Standard Chartered, Ong was a desk head. From July 2004, Ong had worked at Allianz Capital Asset Management.

Xiao Gang, the chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, stepped down and was replaced by Liu Shiyu, chairman of the Agricultural Bank of China and a former deputy governor of the People's Bank of China.

Citigroup's head of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, and country head, Singapore, Michael Zink, retired after almost 30 years at the group. Zink joined Citi in 1988 as a corporate relationship manager and became head of ASEAN for the group in 2012.

KPMG Australia hired David Bardsley and Richard Watts as directors within its wealth management and superannuation advisory business. Bardsley joinedhe Melbourne office from AustralianSuper, the Australian superannuation/pension fund, where he headed up the investment programme. Watts, based in Sydney was previously senior policy advisor and legal counsel at Industry Super Australia.

Hang Seng Bank appointed its head of Greater China, Patrick Chan, as executive director of the bank. Chan was the bank's chief financial officer from 1998 to 2009 before joining Sun Hung Kai Properties as CFO, a role he held until 2015. This year, he rejoined Hang Seng and will now serve a three-year term as director of the bank.

SEI hired Brent Bell as head of asset management distribution in Asia as part of its push for growth in the region. Bell was previously a consultant supporting clients’ distribution strategies in Asia from 2013 to 2015. Before this, he was managing director and head of Asia for Genworth Financial’s lifestyle protection business. He brings more than 20 years of management experience in the financial services industry and is based in Hong Kong, reporting to Kevin Barr, head of SEI’s investment management unit.

Australia-headquartered Bravura Solutions, a provider of software solutions in fields including wealth management, appointed former Old Mutual Group vice chairman Peter Mann as an independent, non-executive director. Before holding his role at Old Mutual, Mann was chief executive at Skandia, the UK retail platform that was acquired by Old Mutual in 2006, and also CEO of Bankhall, the IFA network group.

Wealth management fintech specialist firm IRESS, which is headquartered in Australia, appointed Jacqui Lennon to be responsible for running its wealth management product strategy. In that role, she reports to Aaron Knowles, group executive for products. She joined the firm last July; previously, she worked at Australia’s Macquarie Bank.

Pictet appointed a senior private banker to cover Southeast Asian markets. Grace Barki joined the bank as managing director, senior private banker, covering Southeast Asian markets. Barki had been head of Southeast Asia at RBC Wealth Management, having joined the Canadian banking group in 2012. She left that bank last June. Barki has more than 30 years of private banking and corporate banking experience, beginning her career in 1985 and subsequently taking on senior leadership positions in the corporate banking and private banking divisions of global banks.

One of the former top figures at Credit Suisse and a head of its private bank in the Asia-Pacific region, Marcel Kreis, who moved to become a non-executive director at the Myer Family Company, the Australia-headquartered wealth and family office, became its chairman.
Kreis, who has been with the family office since early 2015, became chairman; non-executive directors are listed as Ann Sherry and family members Martyn Myer and Sidney Myer.

Peter Hodgson is group chief executive. Sherry was the previous chair of MFC. At Credit Suisse, Kreis was chairman and managing director for the Zurich-listed lender from January 2012 to June 2013; from February 2007 to December 2011, he was MD and head of private banking for the Asia-Pacific region. He was MD for private banking, Southeast Asia regional market manager, SE Asia and Japan, at UBS for more than 16 years from 1990.

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group, the investment house with $430 billion assets under management, appointed Katsunori Kitakura as lead strategist based in its Tokyo headquarters. He took over from Genzo Kimura, following his new economist and strategist position at Japan's Government Pension Investment Fund.

He has covered global markets for over 24 years and joined SuMi TRUST in 1984. He started his career as a proprietary trader holding various positions within the firm worldwide, including the London unit and the market making and global markets unit. His latest role was as associate general manager of the global markets business planning department.

Kitakura was a member of the Tokyo Foreign Exchange Market Committee from 2006 to 2012.

Schroders appointed Chris Durack to the newly-formed role of head of distribution for Hong Kong. Durack has been with the UK-listed firm since 2011, working in the role of head of product and distribution in Australia. Before this, he was chief executive of Australian superannuation fund NSW State Super. The appointment at Schroder Investment Management (Hong Kong) came after Durack joined the Hong Kong office at the start of February.

One of the top figures at the private banking arm of JP Morgan, Peter Flavel, left the bank where he had been for about five years to take the helm of Coutts & Co and sister firm Adam & Co, part of Royal Bank of Scotland, in the UK. Flavel joined JP Morgan in 2011 as the CEO for JP Morgan Private Wealth Management which focused on HNW business.  In March 2015, the US bank decided to position its Asia business as one private bank serving two segments, ultra-high net worth and HNW; by operating in one brand, Flavel was named the Asia deputy CEO for JP Morgan Private Bank, reporting to Andrew Cohen, Asia CEO for JP Morgan Private Bank. Flavel transferred from Singapore to London. As part of the change, Michael Morley, CEO of Coutts & Co, stepped down.

Before his time at JP Morgan, Flavel headed the private banking arm of Standard Chartered.

Nigel Rivers, the global head of private clients at TMF Group, left the firm. He is based in Hong Kong. Rivers was with the firm for over seven years, and holds the post of managing director.

RBC Wealth Management appointed ex-Coutts senior banker Shirley Tang as managing director and team head, Asia. Based in Hong Kong, Tang joined in January and reports to Ignatius KK (Iggy) Chong, who was recently appointed to the role of market head, Greater China. Tang has extensive experience in private banking and asset management, having held roles at ABN AMRO, BNP Paribas and Credit Suisse. She joins RBC from Coutts, where she was a managing director and team leader. Last year, Coutts’ international (non-UK) business was purchased by Union Bancaire Privée, the Geneva-headquartered private bank.

UBS announced a new head of wealth management for Southeast Asia. August Hatecke took the role previously held by Edmund Koh, who was promoted in November last year to head of wealth management for the Asia-Pacific region. Hatecke will report to Koh. As part of the change, Hatecke relocated from Zurich. Hatecke joined a predecessor firm of UBS, O'Connor Associates, in 1992, and has held various leadership positions over his UBS career spanning more than 16 years. Before rejoining UBS in 2010, he was head of private banking for Credit Suisse in St Moritz, Switzerland. In his most recent role, Hatecke was head of a ultra-high net worth and global family office business in Switzerland.

First Names Group, a provider of trust, corporation and funds administration services, appointed former Vistra founder Jean Pierre Koolmees as head of its Asian operations. He oversees both First Names Group and its subsidiary fund business, Moore Management, throughout the Asia-Pacific region, and is based in Singapore. Netherlands-born Koolmees, who has been in the financial industry for 16 years, joined from Vistra in Singapore, which he founded in 2010.

Credit Suisse re-hired Carsten Stoehr from Standard Chartered as managing director, head of financing, Asia Pacific. Stoehr re-joined the bank from Standard Chartered, where he was most recently global head of financial market sales. He formerly held senior leadership roles at Credit Suisse in fixed income and debt capital markets in London, Tokyo and Hong Kong. In the newly-created role, Stoehr is based in Hong Kong, reporting to Helman Sitohang, Credit Suisse's Asia-Pacific chief executive.

Hong Leong Financial Group, the Malaysian-headquartered organisation, and Hong Leong Bank unveiled new executive leadership hires. Tan Kong Khoon was appointed president and chief executive of Hong Leong Financial Group. He took over from Raymond Choong, who became president and CEO of Guoco Land in Singapore, a company within the Hong Leong Group. Tan was previously the group managing director and CEO of HLBB. Separately, HLBB appointed Domenic Fuda as the group managing director and CEO to replace Tan. Fuda has 25 years of experience in banking roles in Asia and Australia. Prior to joining HLBB, he was deputy group head of consumer banking and wealth management at DBS.

Edmond de Rothschild hired Christine Wong, a specialist in trusts. She is based in Hong Kong. Wong has worked in the private client trust and planning sectors for more than 16 years. She previously worked at Asiaciti Trust, starting there in 2013.

Manulife made a number of appointments to its Greater China management team. These included leadership changes in Hong Kong and within its Chinese life insurance joint venture.
Guy Mills was promoted to executive vice president and chief executive of Manulife (International). He oversees growth of the company's businesses and distribution in Hong Kong and Macau, except for the mutual funds business. He is based in Hong Kong.

Mills was formerly general manager of Manulife-Sinochem Life Insurance Company, Manulife's life insurance joint venture in China. He was at that business for three years. He has also held roles in Canada, Japan, the Philippines and Hong Kong. Before moving to China, his career at the firm covered a variety of operations and IT leadership roles, such as chief operating officer for Manulife Asia, and that of CEO of Manulife business processing services.

Zhang Kai was named general manager of Manulife-Sinochem Life Insurance Company, subject to necessary regulatory approval. She has more than 20 years of experience in banking and consulting across North America and Asia. Prior to joining Manulife, she was most recently head of consumer banking and previously chief financial officer of a major global bank's China operations. Zhang started her career in pension consulting and management consulting in the US. She is to be based in Shanghai.

Both these persons report to Michael Huddart, Manulife’s executive VP and general manager for Greater China. Huddart remains as chairman of MSL, Manulife Asset Management (Hong Kong), Manulife Asset Management (Taiwan) and vice chairman of Manulife TEDA Fund Management, which is Manulife's joint venture asset management company in China.
BNP Paribas Wealth Management appointed JP Morgan's Prashant Bhayani as managing director and chief investment officer for Asia. Bhayani, who has almost 25 years' experience in multi-asset class management, was previously senior global investment specialist at JP Morgan Private Bank in Singapore. Prior to that, he was co-CIO and co-founder, managing partner of Cork Street Capital Advisors. In his new role, Bhayani replaced Stefan Hofer who left the firm last year. Based in Singapore, Bhayani reports to Arnaud Tellier, head of investment services, Asia at BNP Paribas Wealth Management.