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

Nomura
Nomura International Wealth Management has made two appointmentss: Jessica Ng as an executive director and head of business management for Investment Products & Advisory Solutions (IPAS), and Francis Liu as a managing director to lead business development and strategic initiatives for Greater China.

Ng will report to Sudhir Nemali, COO of IWM with a secondary reporting line to Akshay Prasad, head of IPAS. With over 20 years of experience spanning banking and consulting, Ng has “an impressive track record of excellence in financial services,” the firm said in a memo sent to this news service.

Ng’s remit is to spearhead strategic initiatives and operational excellence within IPAS, while ensuring strong product governance and risk management across Nomura IWM’s investment products portfolio.

Most recently, at Deutsch Private Bank, Ng was global capital markets COO across all regions, while simultaneously serving as COO for banking, lending, investment products and CIO for emerging markets. Prior to that, she was a member of the APAC sales and trading solutions COO team at Credit Suisse. Earlier in her career, Ng worked at Accenture, where she helped deliver transformative consulting services to Singapore's four local banks.

Ng holds a bachelor of accountancy (honours) from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.

Based in Hong Kong, Liu will report directly to Sudhir Nemali, COO IWM. He will focus on increasing the growth of the firm’s Greater China franchise along with its client coverage, client solutions, business management and corporate partner teams. The Greater China business management teams under Sheena Lam, head of business management and client services HK, will report to Francis and have an additional reporting line into TS Murali.

Liu has more than 30 years of wealth and asset management experience in client relationship and strategic business growth. He has a proven track record in leading high performing teams and enhancing operational efficiency across the Asia Pacific region. Most recently, Liu was the managing partner at Orient Wealth Advisors and J Star Capital where he provided consulting services and private market strategies. Prior to that, he was CEO of Lombard Odier Asia. Liu also spent a considerable time at UBS AG, Hong Kong where he held several senior level positions, including sector head of Taiwan International and regional APAC head of ultra-high net worth business segment. Before UBS AG, Liu was at Merrill Lynch Private Wealth Management for about 15 years covering the Greater China markets in Taiwan and Hong Kong at different points of his career there.

Liu holds a master’s in finance from the University of Texas, USA and a bachelor’s in economics from Texas A&M University. He also attended executive education programmes at Harvard Business School and IMD, Switzerland.

Beside the appointments of Jessica Ng and Francis Liu, last week Nomura announced the appointment of Harish Hemandas as managing director and senior executive officer and head of coverage for the Middle East and Europe. IWM has also made three other senior appointments in the first quarter of 2025: Ong Kin Yok as managing director and team head; Sudhir Nemali as managing director and COO of IWM; and Germane Wee as managing director and team head.