The latest moves from the Asia-Pacific region for the wealth management market.

National Australia Bank named a new non-executive director to its board effective November 2014, to replace Geoff Tomlinson. Tomlinson's seat was assumed by Peeyush Gupta, the co-founder of wealth management firm IPAC Securities who also served as its chief executive fro 1996 to 2009. Gupta was a non-executive director at National Wealth Management Holdings, a subsidiary of NAB.

Bridges Financial Services, a subsidiary of IOOF Holdings, named Nick Langton as its new chief executive. He took over from Michael Carter, who left at the end of May after serving as CEO since 2008 and spending 12 years with the company. Langton was previously the general manager, private clients at Perpetual, the Australian financial advisory firm.

Fortnum Financial Group, the Australian advisory and private wealth firm, named a former NAB Wealth executive as its national sales manager. Joel Taylor assumed this newly-created role at Fortnum after serving as the business growth manager at MLC, the wealth arm of NAB, for New South Wales.

ANZ scrapped the chief economist role following a decision to reshuffle its economic and research team. The chief economist for Australia, Ivan Colhoun, no longer held that position. The bank said it was finding another role within the firm for him.
The firm relocated its global head of rates research role to Singapore. Tony Morriss, who held this post in Australia, left the company. A new industry-focused economics team was created in the country, to report directly to chief economist Warren Hogan.

Henderson Global Investors Australia, the local subsidiary of London-based Henderson Group, announced a head of distribution for its newly revamped retail business. Jordan Tang is responsible for the distribution of investment capabilities across the company's retail channels. Tang moved from Ausbil Investment Management, where he most recently served as key account manager.

AMP Financial Services reshuffled its advise research division following the departure of a senior manager. Jeff Poe, the manager of fund research in the AMP Advice Research team, left to become a partner at Platinum Accounting, a local tax accounting firm.

China
Northern Trust Asset Management created a new sales position that would focus on Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan. Benze Lam was named head of the Greater China region, to be responsible for the asset management busines strategy across Asia-Pacific and, in particular, Greater China. He is based in Hong Kong and reports to Bo Kratz, head of the Asia-Pacific at Northern Trust AM. Prior to the appointment, Lam was the head of sales for China offshore at UBS Global Asset Management.

AGDelta, the Singapore-based provider of digital solutions for private wealth management, named a new head for Greater China. Simon Wong joined as business development director and head of Greater China. Wong has over 15 years of experience. Before this appointment, he was the head of sales for Greater China.

Hong Kong and Singapore
Aviva, the UK insurance giant, named a new head for its Asia business. Chris Wei joined as chief executive for global life insurance and chairman for Asia. Wei served as CEO of Great Eastern Holdings from 2011 to 2014.

Julius Baer appointed Nigel Sze as market head of Hong Kong and China. Based in Hong Kong Sze reports to Wilson So, head of greater China at the Zurich-listed firm.
Sze previously worked at Swiss private banking house EFG. Sze has also worked at Citi as head of investments for Asia-Pacific wealth management.

Julius Baer appointed Anne Song as a managing director based in Hong Kong. She previously worked at Standard Chartered for four years, holding the position of senior director. It is understood she joined Zurich-listed Julius Baer around two months ago.

UBS announced two senior hires for its Asia-Pacific business. Paul Stefansson assumed the role of APAC head of investment fund distribution, taking over from Rene Buhlmann who has just been named head of APAC for global asset management. Patrick Grossholz was named local product head for the firm's investment products and services arm in Hong Kong. Stefansson joined UBS in 2006 and has played an important role in building the fund and alternatives platform in Hong Kong and Singapore. Grossholz has been with the company since 1980.

The Private Wealth Management Association announced a new chairman of the executive committee. Kathryn Shih assumed the lead position at the group, following the retirement of Allen Lo. Shih is the CEO of UBS Wealth Management in Asia-Pacific and also serves as group managing director of UBS. She joined the Swiss bank in 1987 and was appointed CEO of UBS WM Asia-Pacific in 2002.

Withers has expanded its Asian corporate practice with two senior hires. Matthew Egerton-Warburton joined as partner while Alana Lam joined as a consultant. Egerton-Warburton was previously a counsel in the corporate and securities practise of Hong Kong-based King & Wood Mallesons while Lam came from London-based Slaughter and May, where she served as a senior associate in the corporate practice.

BOC Hong Kong, part of Bank of China, said one of its board directors, Dr Fung Victor Kwok King had stepped down.

Hamilton Lane, the Philadelphia-headquartered alternative investment management company, announced several appointments in Asia. Tomoko Kitao was named director at the Tokyo office, after serving in various management roles at the international credit and structured finance divisions of Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ. Also hired was Masayoshi Yazawa as senior advisor, responsible for business development efforts in Japan. Prior to this role, Yazawa was the head of foreign securities sales at Itau Asia Securities. In Hong Kong, Josh Jacob was promoted to principal, to oversee the client services team, after serving being with the company for nine years. Also appointed were Brenda Lau as vice president for client relations in Asia and Collwyn Tan as senior associate on the co-investment team. Finally, Hamilton named Steve An to the business development team in Hong Kong, after serving in the business development and client services unit at Neuberger Berman Asset Management in Korea.

Latham & Watkins, the US-headquartered law firm with an extensive financial services offering, relocated its New York partner to Hong Kong to support its growing litigation unit in Asia. Catherine Palmer represents multinationals and global financial institutions involved in criminal or regulatory investigations worldwide, with an emphasis on global corruption, bribery and sanctions enquiries and global antitrust cartel investigations.

Sotheby’s, the auction house, appointed Vinci Chang as head of the 20th Century Chinese Art Department, responsible for organising auctions of such art in Hong Kong. Chang replaced Sylvie Chen, the former Head of 20th Century Chinese Art Department at Sotheby’s. Chang has more than 15 years of experience in the art business.

Nomura Holdings, the Japan-headquartered financial services group, appointed 11 new board directors and seven executive officers.

Mizuho Financial Group made several changes to its management lineup.
Seiji Koga joined as director; Koga is an "outside director" Yuji Yoshimasu took over from Nobukatsu Funaki as corporate auditor, following the latter's retirement.

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.

A senior banker at Credit Suisse, who left the firm several months ago, joined UBS in Singapore. Chee Yuen Leng, who was cluster team leader at the Singapore market at Credit Suisse, has the position of executive director, China team in Singapore.

UBS appointed Polly Tsang as country team head for a newly-established country team. Tsang has over 25 years of banking experience, with prior roles at HSBC, American Express Bank, Citigroup and most recently DBS Private Bank in Hong Kong.

Former Julius Baer heavyweight Roger Fluri joined chief executive of Bank Pictet & Cie Anuj Khanna's wealth management team in Singapore. Fluri, together with one associate, was enlisted to further build and develop the NRI and Middle Eastern coverage of the Swiss private bank in Singapore.

Bordier & Cie appointed Jens Rzecasz, a senior banker who had worked at Credit Suisse in Asia, as head of Asian clients in Singapore. He is building a team of local professionals in the Asia private banking market.