has appointed Gary O’Brien (pictured below) as head of financial intermediaries and corporates client (FI&C) line for its securities services business in Asia-Pacific, effective immediately. 

Based in Australia, O’Brien will report to Franck Dubois, APAC securities head at the French banking group. 

Gary O’Brien

O’Brien has more than 20 years’ experience at BNP Paribas, having started his career in 2005 within the bank’s Australian securities services business. He later headed custody and clearing product for APAC from Hong Kong, before taking charge of the banks and brokers segment globally and the FI&C client line for the UK and Middle East. 

Simmons & Simmons 

International law firm has appointed former Reed Smith senior figure Han Ming Ho to strengthen its asset management and investment funds capability in Singapore.

Han Ming Ho is a Singapore-qualified funds lawyer with experience advising investment managers, sponsors, and institutional investors on the structuring, formation and operation of investment funds across Asia-Pacific. His practice spans a wide range of strategies and structures, including hedge funds, private equity, real estate, private credit and special situations funds, and he regularly advises on both manager-side and investor-side matters. 

An aspect of his practice is guiding clients on establishing and expanding Asia-Pacific-based operations (in particular Singapore), covering fund structuring, licensing and other financial regulatory matters. He also advises on domicilng and structuring fund platforms in Singapore, including re-domiciling offshore structures into Singapore vehicles.

At Reed Smith, Ho led the Asia-Pacific investment management and funds group. Prior to this, he served in partnership roles at Sidley Austin and Clifford Chance in Singapore, where he established and led its Singapore investment funds practices.