The latest senior moves, appointments and changes in the Asia-Pacific wealth management sector.

Value Partners
Value Partners, listed in Hong Kong, has appointed former Amundi senior figure Clare Zhao as head of institutional business for Asia-Pacific, as well as head of the China business and ETF operations.

Based in Hong Kong, Zhao reports to the firm’s leadership committee.

Before joining Value Partners, Zhao was managing director, head of China business at Amundi. Previously, she held various senior management positions at Vanguard, notably as managing director, head of distribution, mainland China and Hong Kong. Earlier in her career, Zhao was ETF sales manager at Value Partners.

The organisation, established in 1993, became listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange’s main board in 2007. In addition to its Hong Kong headquarters, the firm operates in Shanghai, Shenzhen, Singapore and London. 

Charles River
Charles River Development, part of State Street has appointed Vinayak Bhat as senior vice president, head of Asia-Pacific.

Bhat previously worked at FactSet Research Systems where he was head of the APAC business. He has more than 25 years’ experience in leadership positions in sales, consulting, and engineering. Prior to his time at FactSet, Vinayak spent a decade at Tata Consultancy Services.

Vinayak has a bachelor’s degree in electronic engineering from the National Institute of Technology Surat, India, and an MBA in general management from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. He is a CFA® charterholder, CFA Institute.

Investment and wealth managers, asset owners and insurers in over 30 countries use Charles River IMS to manage $59 trillion in assets. 

M&G
M&G has appointed Lesley Lo (pictured below) as institutional distribution head for Asia-Pacific.

Lesley Lo

Lo, based in Hong Kong, previously served as managing director, head of institutional sales, North Asia at Principal Asset Management. She has worked at firms including BNP Paribas Asset Management, MetLife Investment Management and Janus Capital Group.

In the new post, Lo will collaborate with official institutions, pension funds, insurance companies, family offices and corporate reserves.

In other recent moves, Amy Cho was appointed head of APAC in November 2023, and Manabu Fujita and Peter Kim were also appointed in 2023 as head of Japan and head of Korea branch office respectively, to propel M&G’s expansion efforts. 

The business has opened a new office in Taipei and has acquired the Securities Investment Consulting Enterprise (SICE) business licence in Taiwan, alongside the introduction of M&G’s flagship investment strategies to retail investors in Singapore.

Lo reports to Amy Cho, head of APAC, M&G Investments.