A round-up of senior wealth management industry appointments, moves and personnel changes in APAC.

Citigroup appointed Akira Hoshino as head of markets for Japan, to drive business growth and lead the markets franchise in Japan. He reports to Paul Smith, head of markets for Japan, Asia North and Australia, and Robert Nakamura, Citi country officer and banking head for Japan. Hoshino joined the US bank in 2019.

Former VP Bank chief executive Paul Arni was named as non-executive director at WRISE Singapore. Arni informs WRISE Singapore’s corporate strategy, governance, risk appetite and advise it about significant risk events. Arni worked at VP Bank for five years. Besides his VP Bank position, Arni served in leadership roles at banks such as Deutsche Bank (Switzerland), Julius Baer in Zurich, and Credit Suisse, also in the Swiss city.

HSBC appointed Kanas Chan, formerly of Deutsche Bank, as head of global private banking for North Asia and Hong Kong. She succeeded Bryce Wan and is based in Hong Kong. Chan reports to Lok Yim, regional head, global private banking, Asia-Pacific and Maggie Ng, head of wealth and personal banking, Hong Kong. Chan joined Deutsche Bank in 2007.

Lombard Odier said Vincent Magnenat, group regional head of Asia and global head of strategic alliances, had relocated to London from Singapore. Magnenat, who continued in his roles, also took on additional responsibilities â€“ he became Lombard Odier Investment Managers’ UK CEO.

Equiom Group, a global provider of professional services, appointed Sharon Yam as its new regional head of Asia. Yam has more than 20 years of experience in private wealth, fiduciary, and corporate services. She served in senior leadership and board positions at major financial institutions and asset management firms, including Ocorian, TMF, BNP Paribas Private Bank, and Citigroup.

BNP Paribas appointed Eric Tran as chief sustainability officer for global banking, Asia-Pacific. Prior to this, Tan served as the head of sustainability for transaction banking, APAC. Tan reports hierarchically to Krishnan Venkatesh, head of corporate clients group, APAC, functionally to Cosmin Dragan, chief ESG transition officer, global banking, and has a dotted reporting line to Aymar de Liedekerke Beaufort, head of global banking APAC. Tan was due to move to Singapore from Hong Kong.

Sun Life appointed Bennet Li as senior vice president and chief financial officer for Asia. Li reports to Tim Deacon, executive vice president and chief financial officer, and Manjit Singh, president of Sun Life Asia. He had been interim CFO for Sun Life Asia since September 2024. Li joined Sun Life in 2002.

Asia’s Lioner International Group appointed former HSBC private banking figure Andy Leung as managing director in consultancy. Prior to joining Lioner, Leung was head of wealth planning at HSBC Private Banking for the Greater China markets.

Howden, a global insurance intermediary group, promoted two figures to join its private wealth management team: Bryan Pee and Shirley Sy. Pee was promoted to CEO for Singapore and Malaysia; while Sy became deputy CEO for Hong Kong. Sy, at the firm since 2011, had been head of operations in the private wealth business, since 2014.

Citi Australia and New Zealand appointed Ben Connolly and Philippe Perzi as co-heads of capital markets and advisory. Connolly was managing director and head of real estate for Citigroup in Australia and New Zealand. Perzi joined from Goldman Sachs where he was MD and head of its financial institutions group. Both individuals report to Jan Metzger, Citigroup’s head of investment banking for Asia-Pacific and locally to Mark Woodruff, Citi Australia CEO. Both men are based in Sydney.

Manulife appointed a new CEO and president for Asia, Steve Finch. He succeeded Phil Witherington. Finch had served as Manulife’s chief actuary. Prior to that, Finch was chief financial officer at John Hancock, Manulife’s US business and, before that, he served as the general manager of the company’s US life insurance business. 

RBC Wealth Management Asia appointed Kamran Azim, chief operating officer (COO), in the newly-created role of head of private banking, Singapore. Azim, who is maintaining his COO role, has held senior positions across RBC Wealth Management and RBC Capital Markets since joining the bank in Toronto in 2008.

Other hires at the RBC wealth business included:

-- Jessie Heng, managing director and team head; she has over 28 years of experience in the private banking industry. Heng was previously a cluster head for a Southeast Asia team at Bank Julius Baer. 

-- Moses Seow, executive director, has 25 years of financial services industry experience across retail, wealth products, asset management, corporate banking and private banking. He was previously at Lombard Odier Asia in Singapore, where he was an executive director and team head for Greater China. 

-- Derrick Yong, director, previously at VP Bank, has more than 24 years of wealth management experience across international banks such as Standard Chartered Bank, Clariden Leu, EFG and CIMB.

-- Eng Huat Thio, director has more than three decades of financial services experience developed in roles with Standard Chartered Bank, BNP Paribas Wealth Management and OCBC Bank. He was most recently a relationship manager with Julius Baer.

Aberdeen Investments appointed Isaac Thong from JP Morgan Asset Management as senior investment director on the Asia Pacific equities team. Thong is based in Singapore, and replaced Yoojeong Oh, who left Aberdeen to pursue other interests. Thong reports to Flavia Cheong, head of Asia Pacific equities, Aberdeen.

Bank of Singapore appointed Joey Tang as head of the Investment Solutions Group Hong Kong. Tang, based in Hong Kong, reports to Singapore-based Vivienne Chia, global head of the Investment Solutions Group; he has a local reporting line to Rickie Chan, head of Private Banking, Greater China, and chief executive, Hong Kong branch.

Tang is an industry veteran with close to 30 years of experience in investment banking and private banking. Before joining the Bank of Singapore, he was the head of funds, alternatives, and solutions at the Bank of China (Hong Kong) Private Banking.

PIMCO appointed David Orazio as its executive vice president and head of global wealth management for Australia. He replaced Brendo Rodda, who left PIMCO for a distribution role at Allianz Retire. Prior to joining PIMCO in 2015, Orazio was the national key account manager for Macquarie private portfolio management.

Endowus, an Asian independent wealth platform, appointed Janet Hung as head of client advisory, in Hong Kong. She leads client management across individual clients, family offices, and institutions. Hung has more than 18 years’ experience in institutional sales working with alternative asset managers, sovereign wealth and family offices. Prior to Endowus, she worked for 16 years at Nomura and Lehman Brothers.

Jasmine Chan leads its investment office in Hong Kong, serving as investment advisory director. Previously, she worked at Credit Suisse and Barclays Wealth in structuring investment solutions. Sam Rhee’s new mandate as group chief investment officer was expanded to include the group’s overall investment strategy. Hugh Chung took over the reins as chief investment officer.

Macquarie Asset Management appointed David Chang in the newly-created role of head of wealth distribution, Asia. He is based in Singapore.