July was a busy month for wealth management industry moves in July, and this publication had a number of exclusives stories on prominent appointments.

Australia, New Zealand

Australia-listed financial technology firm Bravura Solutions created a new global product development role, with John Waddy, its current chief operating officer, EMEA wealth management, taking on the position. He shifted to the Asia-Pacific region as part of the change. Waddy, at Bravura for six years, oversees global software research and development, product innovation, delivery and quality assurance for Sonata, the company’s wealth management and life insurance solution.

As a result of the move, Harry Storer was appointed to fill the COO slot.  He has served previously as senior vice president, Oracle Consulting Services Asia Pacific and global consulting services leader for Ventyx, an ABB Company.

ANZ appointed Mary MacLeod as CFO, international and institutional banking, reporting to chief financial officer Shayne Elliott and CEO international and institutional banking Andrew Géczy. MacLeod is responsible for managing the financial performance and regulatory reporting for International and Institutional Banking across ANZ’s 33 markets. MacLeod was deputy CEO of ICBC International and before this worked in a number of senior executive roles in global banking and corporate finance roles at Deutsche Bank in Australia, New Zealand and Asia.

Mainland China
Credit Suisse appointed Angie Ma as managing director, sector head and deputy market leader for Great China. She is based in Hong Kong and reports to Jimmy Lee, Greater China market leader. With close to 20 years of experience in the industry Ma joined Credit Suisse from UBS, where she was a managing director and deputy regional market manager for the China market.

JP Morgan appointed David Li as senior country officer for China. He previously worked at UBS for nine years; his latest role was as chairman and country head for China. He chairs the bank’s local management committee and reports to Nicolas Aguzin, JP Morgan’s chairman and chief executive for Asia-Pacific. He is based in Beijing. Li took over from Shao Zili, who took up a more regional role at the bank in April as vice-chairman for Asia-Pacific.  

The wealth business of Barclays, which no longer exists in its corporate financial reporting structure as a stand-alone entity, has seen the departure of its Greater China Head, Carol Chen. Chen joined Barclays from UBS in 2011 as market head of Greater China; this was a newly created role at the time.

Neuberger Berman, the US-headquartered investment house, appointed a senior advisor for the Asia-Pacific region. Clifford Chiu is based in Hong Kong; he was previously partner member at KKR & Co, overseeing the firm’s client business in Asia including Japan. Chiu previously served as managing director responsible for the Asian institutional business with JP Morgan in Hong Kong and Tokyo between 2002 and 2007.

Withers, the international law firm, added to its global immigration practice with the senior appointment of Mark Lanning, a former tax treaty negotiator for the US. He joined as director of immigration in Hong Kong, a newly created position. Lanning previously worked at the US Consulate in Hong Kong, where he advised high-net-worth individuals and Fortune 500 Chinese and Hong Kong companies on visa and other US investment regulations.

Bonhams, the auction house, appointed Magnus Renfrew as deputy chairman, Asia and director of fine arts for Asia. This is a newly-created position. Renfrew is responsible for defining the strategy for Bonhams in Asia relating to the fine arts and will oversee the established departments of Classical, Modern and Contemporary Art in the region. He sits on the board of Bonhams Asia and reports to Malcolm Barber, co-chairman of Bonhams Group and chief executive at the Hong Kong Board.
 
Renfrew was due to join September, having previously been director for Asia and member of the executive committee of Art Basel, where he was responsible for its Hong Kong edition and for the participation of galleries, collectors and the wider art community from Asia in Art Basel shows worldwide.

Manulife (International) Limited, a member of the Manulife Financial group of companies, appointed Michael Ting as chief legal and compliance officer to its Hong Kong office. Ting heads up the Hong Kong legal and compliance functions, providing advice to the senior management. Ting has more than 20 years of experience in legal and compliance areas and prior to joining Manulife held various senior legal and compliance positions at local and regional level with life insurers in Hong Kong.   

India
A senior India-based private banker at the wealth arm of UK-listed Barclays left the business. Deepak Rattan, who has been at the firm in Asia since 2008, went on a period of gardening leave. At Barclays, he held the position of director (private clients) India. He was running a team of about 20 people.

Hong Kong
Two local chief executives have left Australia and New Zealand Banking Group. Susan Yuen resigned in June as ANZ's Hong Kong chief executive. That move was followed by the resignation of China chief Charles Li. Li held the top China role for about three and a half years while Yuen took up the Hong Kong position in 2009.

Ivy Au Yeung, managing director of commercial banking for the Asia-Pacific region at ANZ, is acting chief executive in Hong Kong and a search for a full-time holder of the post is under way and an announcement is hoped to be made shortly.

Earlier in July Davin Wong, former head of North Asia for United Overseas Bank, based in Singapore, joined ANZ as market head North Asia.

Wong remains based in Singapore and reports to Kevin Ong, private bank head for Southeast Asia. The move reunited the men, both of whom had worked at UOB. In May, this publication confirmed that ANZ Private Bank had appointed Ong as head of Southeast Asia, reporting to Manfred Liechti, global head of the private bank. Ong had worked at UOB Private Bank, holding the post of executive director, head of sales, business development and marketing.

Japan
Nikko Asset Management hired Stefanie Drews, former global head of key clients and family offices at Barclays’ wealth arm. In this role, she is global head of institutional marketing and proposition; she was due to move to Tokyo from the UK later this year.

Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management, part of Deutsche Bank, said Koichiro Maeda joined the business as a managing director and head of real estate, Japan, representing the global franchise from Tokyo. Previous roles included those of a managing director at Prudential Real Estate Investors, where he led business development and major transaction initiatives in Japan, and from positions held at Morgan Stanley and Mitsui Fudosan.

GLG Partners, the UK-registered investment firm that is part of Man Group, appointed Adrian Edwards as manager of its GLG Japan CoreAlpha Team. He previously worked as an assistant fund manager at Stratton Street Capital, overseeing Japanese equity strategies.

Singapore
Credit Agricole Private Banking appointed Gnanasekaran Sekar as the new senior investment advisor to its Singapore branch to support the delivery of personalised and tailored investment solutions. Sekar previously worked for Chase Manhattan Bank, Smith Barney Asset Management, Coutts Bank and more recently at Barclays Wealth Singapore as a senior investment advisor. Sekar reports to Sen Sui, head of Singapore branch, and Simon Ip, head of markets and investment solutions in Singapore.  

Rupinder Sehmi and Jagjit Matharu, formerly of Barclays, have joined EFG.

One of the senior marketing figures at Singapore-headquartered DBS Bank has left the firm after being in the role for a year. Prashant Agarwal took up a new role as director – EDGE (Group Innovation) at AIA.

Mark Chester Ng, who joined Julius Baer in Asia when the bank acquired Merrill Lynch’s international wealth management arm over a year ago, resigned from the Swiss-headquartered firm.

Davin Wong, former head of North Asia for United Overseas Bank, based in Singapore, joined ANZ as market head North Asia. Wong is based in Singapore and reports to Kevin Ong, private bank head for Southeast Asia. The move reunited the men, both of whom had worked at UOB.

Credit Suisse appointed Sharhan Muhseen as head of financial institutions for Southeast Asia, based in Singapore. Muhseen reports to Michael Tan, head of financial institutions group coverage for Asia Pacific, who is responsible for deal sourcing and origination in the Southeast Asia region. Muhseen was previously head of financial institutions group for Southeast Asia and head of coverage for Sri Lanka at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, based in Singapore.

The private banking arm of Singapore’s United Overseas Bank appointed Ong Yeng Fang as its regional chief executive and head of private banking. She reports to Eddie Khoo, divisional head of retail and private banking. Yeng Fang was formerly a senior banker at Julius Baer before joining Merrill Lynch as market head. She moved back into Julius Baer following the integration.