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Summary Of Wealth Management Moves For Asia-Pacific Region - August 2012

6 September 2012

PricewaterhouseCoopers, the global consulting firm specialising in assurance, tax and advisory, announced that it had expanded its Asian financial advisory team by 55 in July in a bid to address the growing regional demand for professional services. In 1 July, 29 new partners joined the Mainland China office, 14 joined in Hong Kong, six in Singapore and six in Taiwan. In terms of areas of practice, 25 were added to the assurance arm, 13 to tax and 17 to advisory. The hires effectively brought PwC's total partner headcount in the four offices to 690. PricewaterhouseCoopers employs some 16,000 staff in Asia overall.

Sun Life Asset Management, the mutual funds subsidiary of Sun Life Financial-Philippines, revealed plans to increase its financial advisor count and forge more partnerships with private banking units of key institutions by the end of 2012. The move to boost its staff numbers comes as the firm tries to expand its wealth management presence through more alliances with major bank institutions.

NAB Private Wealth, the private client unit of National Australia Bank, named Kieren Perkins as the new state manager for Queensland. Perkins was head of private client and business development at NAB Private Wealth in Queensland. He has been in the process of transitioning to his new role since May 2012. In this new capacity, he will manage daily operations at the private banking and wealth business, focusing on private wealth strategy and proposition.

Fidelity Worldwide Investment, the Australian financial services firm, named Andrew Mellor to the newly-created role of associate director for consultant relationships. Mellor was previously an account manager for research at Colonial First State, where he managed key accounts across research houses representing its asset management strategies. The firm said the new role is in line with efforts to bolster its consultant relationships offering in the country.

AMP Capital, the Australian fund management firm, appointed Kerry Ching as its new managing director for Asia ex-Japan. Ching started at AMP's Hong Kong office in 2 August, where she will focus on managing key client relationships alongside institutional sales and business development functions. She previously worked as country head for Hong Kong as Fidelity Investment Management.

PDL International, the UK-based investment services firm, named Keith Campbell Golding as chief representative for the Middle East and Asia, responsible for marketing and distributing the firm's product range to local clients. The appointment was announced alongside plans to expand the firm's distribution activity in the two regions' strong high net worth and institutional client bases.

Malaysian financial services firm CIMB Group made two appointments to its team. David Richard Thomas was named group chief risk officer, reporting to the board of directors/board risk committee. He was previously the chief risk officer for Asia-Pacific at Royal Bank of Scotland. Encik Shahnaz Jammal, meanwhile, was named deputy group chief financial officer after having previously served as head of the group chief executive's office. Before joining CIMB Group in March 2009, he worked for Goldman Sachs in London, Bankers Trust and Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein in London and ABN AMRO Bank in Kuala Lumpur.

Australian boutique advisory firm Crystal Wealth Partners appointed John McIlroy as company director and shareholder. McIlroy was previously chief executive of the company and in his new role will be part of a team of three directors. Prior to joining Crystal Wealth, McIlroy founded Multiport, the self-managed super fund and managed accounts business that was acquired by AXA in 2009.

DBS Group, the Singaporean bank, named Derrick Goh as the new head of its POSB unit, the branch of consumer banking services offered by DBS in the city-state. Goh is currently the chief operating officer for institutional banking and will not assume his new post until 1 October 2012. He replaces Koh Kar Siong, who was appointed regional head of DBS Treasures, as incumbent head Pearlyn Phau moves to become the head of consumer banking in Hong Kong.

JP Morgan Private Bank hired Fan Jiang, a former Goldman Sachs executive, to lead its Asian strategy team based in Hong Kong. Jiang previously served as chief investment officer for the Asia-Pacific private wealth management business of Goldman Sachs. In his new role, he will develop and implement investment strategy and tailor it for clients in Asia, alongside teams in the US, EMEA and Latin America. He reports directly to Richard Madigan, chief investment officer.

Royal Bank of Scotland China chairman and chief executive Sherry Liu departed her post to pursue "outside interests." Liu assumed the role in April 2011 and will be replaced by Alex Chu, head of international banking for North Asia. Qing Cheng Hua remains as country executive.

Signet Capital Management, the UK-based fixed income hedge funds specialist, announced the resignation of Francois Hora as Asian head after four years in the role. Hora joined another hedge fund, Complus Asset Management, in June to become its new business development head. His former colleague, Wisely Ngai, remains with the firm in Hong Kong. There are no immediate plans to replace Hora, the firm said.

FNZ Australia, the technology provider to the wealth management and financial services sectors, named former Australian minister for superannuation Nick Sherry as chairman. Before joining FNZ, Sherry served as senior advisor to the superannuation practice at Ernst & Young. His appointment was announced alongside the promotion of Martin Jennings as the new chief executive for the Australasian division. Jennings is currently the managing director of the Australian and New Zealand business.

United Overseas Bank, the Singaporean bank, confirmed the departure of long-time chairman Wee Cho Yaw in 2013, after him having served in the position since 1974. He steps down effective April 2013, but will continue to advise the bank in an honorary Chairman Emeritus position. Hsieh Fu Hua will then become a non-executive chairman. Hsieh is a member of UOB's board and serves as director at Temasek.

Commonwealth Bank of Australia appointed Matt Comyn as its group executive for retail banking services, with effect from 10 August. Comyn has been with the group since 1999 and has held a variety of senior management roles, most recently as head of the local business banking unit. He replaced Ross McEwan, who left the firm in May to become the head of the UK retail banking arm of Royal Bank of Scotland.

ABN AMRO relocated Paul Timmermans from London to Hong Kong to become head of escrow and settlement Asia. The move was made alongside the launch of a new escrow and settlement services business in the region. Timmermans was previously part of the bank's Rotterdam office. He reports both to Maaike Steinebach, country executive for Hong Kong and head of energy, commodities and transportation for Asia, and Lout Lapidaire, managing director for escrow and settlement in Rotterdam.

BNY Mellon Asia-Pacific named Paul Schulte as head of investment strategy, a newly-created Hong Kong-based role. Schulte, who will focus on developing the firm's Asia-Pac investment and market knowledge platform, reports to Alan Harden, chief executive for the Asia-Pacific investment management unit, and Jack Malvey, chief global market strategist for investment management in New York. He was previously the global head of financial strategy at China Construction Bank International Securities, where he created the Greater China research platform.

Swiss bank UBS confirmed the departure of Stephen Gore as head of Asia mergers and acquisitions after working for 19 years at the company. The bank did not say anything about Gore's next plan although media reports show he may have moved to Bank of America Merrill Lynch to become its head of M&A Asia-Pacific ex-Japan, based in Hong Kong.

BNY Mellon appointed Brigette Leckie as vice president of intermediary relationships, Australia, a newly-created role, in line with the firm's efforts to expand product and client services in the self-managed super funds market. Leckie joined from Alliance Bernstein and reports directly to Bruce Murphy, managing director of BNY Mellon Asset Management Australia.

Genji Hosono stepped down as market leader of Credit Suisse's Hong Kong division, without citing a reason. It is believed that Hosono is one the verge of joining rival UBS, also in Hong Kong. A replacement will be announced in due course.

Bermuda-based law firm Appleby relocated two senior lawyers to its Hong Kong practice. Eliot Simpson joined Appleby in Hong Kong as a partner and Joanne Collett joined as a senior associate, from the firm's BVI and Cayman Islands offices, respectively. They will provide advise in Asia on offshore litigation and insolvency matters and will be the points of contact in the Asian time zone for the global team.

Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation named Raymond Chee as managing director of its securities business, OCBC Securities effective 6 August. He replaced Hui Yew Ping, who left the firm to "pursue personal interests." Chee has been working for the firm for 17 years, starting out as a relationship manager in corporate banking.

Hong Kong financial services firm CITIC Bank announced the retirement of Doreen Chan Hui Dor Lam as chief executive this year. Chan retires after a 15-year tenure with the company. She has been CEO since 2002. Her retirement schedule and successor will be announced in due course, the bank said.

Equity Trustees, the Australian fund management and investment firm, named Anne O'Donnell as non-executive chairman for its superannuation business. O'Donnell takes over from Rob Dillon, who retired from his role as chairmn and director of Equity Trustees Superannation. Adrian Young, managing director, also retired. O'Donnell used to be managing director of Australian Ethical Investment.

Manulife named Nirmala Nair as chief legal and compliance officer for its Singapore office. Nair replaces Clive Anderson, who continues with his oversight of the legal and compliance functions in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore and has taken an expanded ASEAN role with Manulife Financial. She brings over 25 years of industry experience to the position, having worked as an advocate and solicitor in private legal practice for nine years and serving senior roles at established life insurance firms in the city-state.

Rubik Financial, the financial technology and software provider, boosted its wealth management division by adding Wayne Wilson as managing director to lead the newly-acquired Coin business. Coin is the financial planning software arm of Macquarie Group acquired by Rubik Financial in early August 2012. Wilson most recently served as a consultant with WRW Consulting and from 2009 to 2010 worked as head as Asgard and Advance at BT Financial Group.

Desmond Liu, the former head of North Asia private banking at HSBC, stepped down following a management restructuring and the departure of his co-head. Liu was appointed to the role in late 2010, following the retirement of then-Asia private banking chief Monica Wong. In November 2011, the bank announced a surprise new leadership structure which saw Bernard Rennell take over all private banking activity in North Asia, coming in above Liu. HSBC confirmed that Liu was leaving the bank, without commenting further.

Barclays, the UK-headquartered bank, appointed Igor Arsenin as head of its emerging Asia interest rates arm. Arsenin joined the firm from Credit Suisse, where he last served as head of Latin America fixed income strategy in New York. In his new role, he will be working closely with Barclays' global rates strategy team, reporting to Nigel Chalk, head of emerging Asia research.

Australian Financial Services, the Australian financial planning and dealer group, appointed Alan Logan as chief executive. Logan was previously a director a private consultancy fir Bombora Advice. He replaced Peter Daly, who left AFS in June 2012.

HSBC Global Asset Management expanded its Asian equity investment team in Hong Kong with the addition of Michael Chiu and Karma Wilson as investment directors for equities, with a focus on the fund management of Chinese equities and Asian equities, respectively. Chiu, who joined from ING Investment Management, reports directly to Mandy Chan, head of Chinese equities. Wilson, from AMP Capital Investors in Sydney, now reports to Husan Pai and Michael Dillon, co-heads of Asian equities.

MLC, the wealth management arm of National Australia Bank, expanded its superannuation trustee boards with the appointment of Richard Rassi. Rassi joined three trustee boards for super funds, namely MLC Nominees, NULIS Nominees - Australia and PFC Nominees, which are accountable to around 1.5 million members and some A$56 billion in funds under management. In addition to his new duties, he now also chairs the finance and audit committee at MLC.

Adveq Management, the global private equity fund management firm, named David Seex to lead its newly-launched office in Hong Kong -- its third in Asia. Seex was previously the head of Asia-Pacific.

Manulife Asset Management appointed Peter Kim as managing director, head of institutional sales in Korea. Based in Hong Kong, Kim started with the company in July and reports to James Chen, head of institutional sales and relationship management, Asia. He was previously the director of Lapis Global Limited, based in Hong Kong.

Mercer named Edmund Teo as tje new wealth management head for Asia, plus a principal consultant, bringing the consultant's Asia presence to a 19-strong team. Teo leads Mercer’s wealth management team, which provides research, advisory and portfolio management services to Asian-based private banks, insurance companies, consumer banks, financial planning organisations and platforms. He reports directly to Cara Williams, the global head of wealth management in London.

Skandia International, the offshore business of London- and Johannesburg-listed Old Mutual Wealth Management, announced a number of senior appointments in Singapore and Hong Kong. In Singapore, Craig Ellis was made head of the region and principal officer for Royal Skandia in Singapore and southeast Asia. He joined Skandia International’s sales leadership team, reporting to sales director, Victor France. Chris Ivinson was also appointed head of sales for the region, reporting to Ellis. In Hong Kong, Alan Leung joined Royal Skandia as head of strategic development for the Hong Kong region, a newly created role. Leung moved from Swiss Privilege where he held a number of strategic roles since 2006. He reports to Mike Leeson, Royal Skandia head of sales for Hong Kong and NE Asia.

Western Asset Management, the UK-headquartered fixed income manager, expanded its Asian capability with four hires. Desmond Soon now leads the investment team based in Singapore as portfolio manager. Joining Soon is Swee Ching Lim, who moves from London as credit research analyst. The other two new hires are Wontae Kim and Desmond Fu as portfolio analysts. The team reports to Chia-Liang Lian, the head of investment management for Asia, based in Singapore.

Fidelity Worldwide Investment, the UK-based investment management firm, appointed Raymond Ma as lead manager for its $406 million Greater China fund. He takes over from Joseph Tse, who stepped down in July after 22 years with the company for personal reasons. Ma is the manager of Fidelity Funds China Consumer Fund and continues to serve as head of the China Consumer Fund alongside his new role.

Grace Barki, a former vice chairman and head of Southeast Asia at Swiss private bank Sarasin, resurfaced at the Royal Bank of Canada, as head of Southeast Asia. Barki resigned from Sarasin in June. Her old duties have been taken up by chief executive officer of Asia, Enid Yip, until a replacement is found.

Royal Bank of Canada Investor Services hired Kevin Hogan as director for its client operations business in Australia. Hogan joined from Macquarie Investment Management where he served as head, fund accounting. At RBC, he will be responsible for managing the client operations business in Australia and report jointly to Duncan White, head of client operations in Asia-Pacific and David Travers, managing director of Australia.

Federated Investors, the US-based investment management firm, appointed Craig Bingham to lead its new Asia-Pacific subsidiary. Bingham is now based in Melbourne and reports to Gordon Ceresino, vice chairman of Federated Investors and executive director for international distribution. Prior to Federated, Bingham served as chief executive for Aviva Investors' Australia and Asia-Pacific regions.

Oppenheimer Investments Asia appointed Robin Green as its new chief executive. Green takes the lead role as broker-dealer, along with the designation of president. He joined the firm from MF Global, where he served as head of Asian insitutional equity sales for the Hong Kong branch. He replaces Steve Bernstein, who resigned in December 2011.

Manulife Asset Management moved Endre Pederson, fixed income portfolio manager for Asia, from Hong Kong to Singapore to establish the latter's strategy in building out its ASEAN business. Also appointed was Rana Gupta as senior portfolio manager, responsible for the research, analysis and coverage of Indian equities. Both Pedersen and Gupta report to Jill Smith, senior managing director for Manulife Asset Management Singapore. In addition, Lawrence Wee was named head of institutional sales for South Asia to help build the company's client and consultancy relationship management and servicing division.

Barclays appointed three executives to lead its new independent asset managers team in Singapore. Cedric Lizin was appointed as head of the independent asset managers segment, Asia-Pacific at Barclays. Lizin is also head of Japan, as well as head of key clients, Asia-Pacific, at Barclays. The firm also announced the hire of Annabelle Chow as director, team head, as well as Josephine Koh, as director, in July. Both Chow and Koh joined from Credit Suisse in Singapore, where they were team head and deputy team head, respectively. 

Royal Bank of Scotland added two senior economists to its team in Asia. Louis Kuijs joinsed RBS in Hong Kong as chief China economist, responsible for China macroeconomic coverage. In Singapore, Enrico Tanuwidjaja joined the bank as southeast Asia economist, responsible for macroeconomic research coverage for the region. Both Kuijs and Tanuwidjaja report to Sanjay Mathur, RBS’s head of economic research, Asia-Pacific ex-Japan.

BNP Paribas Investment Partners Australia named Angus Carson as head of superannuation and government institutions, responsible for business development and client relationships. Carson was previously an associate director of institutional sales at Ambassador Funds Management Services. He is joined by Stephen Copeland, who is also newly-appointed as manager of client services and operations. Copeland used to be with MLC Private Equity where he served as a senior analyst.

The CFA Institute, the standard setter for investment professionals, named Paul Smith as managing director of Asia-Pacific operations effective 3 October. He previously operated his own firm, Asia Alternative Asset Partners, but had also worked at HSBC and Bank of Bermuda. His appointment comes after an extensive global search to succeed Ashvin Vibhakar, who continues to lead strategic initiatives for the organisation as a managing director.

Henry Lee, the chief investment officer of Nan Fung Investment Adviser, the family office of one of Hong Kong's wealthiest dynasties, resigned. Lee spent two years in the role at NFIA and told WealthBriefing Asia that he is contemplating a couple of options for future roles, also in the Asian family office space. He is believed to be succeeded at the family office by a senior banker from Goldman Sachs.

Nomura, the Japan-headquartered financial services giant, bolstered its Asian fixed income business with the hire of Rig Karkhanis as head of fixed income for Asia ex-Japan, based in Singapore. Karkanis joined the firm in September 2010 as head of fixed income, Singapore from Millenium Partners. He replaces Jai Rajpal, who was appointed global head of FX, based in London. He now reports  locally to Minoru Shinohara, the chief executive for Asia ex-Japan, and regionally to Yutaka Nakajima, the head of fixed income trading for Asia-Pacific and Takashi Abiko, the head of fixed income sales, Asia-Pacific. Globally, he reports to Steve Ashley, the global head of fixed income.

Wayne Yang, a 17-year Citi Private Bank alumnus, returned to firm to take up the newly-created role of managing director and head of client coverage for Asia-Pacific. Yang most recently worked at Deutsche Bank as managing director and head of wealth management South East Asia. He reports to Bassam Salem, the Hong Kong-based chief executive for Citi Private Bank in Asia-Pacific.

CDC Group, the UK government's development finance arm, announced the resignation of Anubha Shrivastava as its Asia investments head. Shrivastava was previously the managing director for Asia investments. Her departure was announced alongside the appointment of Hiti Singh and promotion of Clarisa De Franco as portfolio directors for the Asia funds team. Singh was previously with the Africa team, while De Franco had been working for the Asia investment team.

MLC Investment Management, the investment and wealth management arm on National Australia Bank, announced that its chief investment officer, Nicky Richards, is leaving effective October 2012. Richards has been serving in the post since 2010 and will be replaced by Jonathan Armitage, who will act in a temporary capacity until MLC hires a successor.

Kevin Hardy, the head of global investments for Asia-Pacific at Northern Trust left, and is believed to be joining rival BlackRock to lead its APAC index equity team. Reports say Hardy is due to leave the US asset manager by the end of September and will take up his new role with BlackRock in October. William Mak was appointed interim Hong Kong country head at Northern Trust and will lead global investments for Asia-Pacific. Mak is currently Singapore country manager and head of Southeast Asia.

Sumit Sibal, previously the head of global South Asia at RBC Wealth Management, left the firm to join Emirates NBD in London as its head for non-resident Indian business (UK & Europe). Sibal, who joined Emirates NBD over a month ago, had previously spent eight years with Citi covering the NRI market.

Société Générale Cross Asset Research, the research arm of French banking giant Société Générale, appointed Klaus Baader as its chief economist for the Asia-Pacific office. Baader joined Société Générale in 2009 and served as chief Euro area economist in London before moving to Hong Kong in 2012. He reports to both Michala Marcussen, the global head of economics, and Guy Stear, head of research for Asia-Pacific.

E Fund, the Chinese fund management firm, bolstered its team with the hire of Eugene Lee as the global head of sales and marketing. Lee was previously Asia head of equities at BBVA, the Spanish bank. She replaces Marie Chew, who tendered her resignation in the end of August.

Latham & Watkins, the UK-based law firm that specialises in financial services accounts, boosted its Singapore practice with the transfer of two of its London corporate partners to the city-state. The relocation of Luke Grubb and Rod Brown effectively takes the total number of partners at the firm's Singapore branch to 11. Latham & Watkins has 36 lawyers in Singapore, including the 11 partners.

Coutts, the UK-based private bank, hired 14-year UBS veteran Phillip Reade as its new head of credit risk for Asia based in Hong Kong. Reade spent the last 14 years at UBS holding various credit roles. At Coutts, he will be responsible for the overall credit risk framework in Asia, covering sanctioning processes, portfolio management, policy and management information, risk assessment and controls. He reports to Errol D'Souza, chief risk officer for Asia.

Eleven-year UBS veteran Kai Sotorp returned to the Swiss bank's global asset management business as head of Asia-Pacific, after a stint in Chicago and a brief retirement. Sotorp returned 3 September and is based in Hong Kong, reporting to John Fraser, chairman and chief executive of UBS Global Asset management. Sotorp replaced Christof Kutscher, who left the bank to return to Europe early in 2012. Scott Keller, acting head of Asia-Pacific since April 2012, continues in his role of head of Pan Asia, reporting to Sotorp.

UK lending giant Barclays appointed Antony Jenkins as its new chief executive, succeeding Bob Diamond who resigned in July. Jenkins was previously the CEO for retail and business banking for Barclays in Africa and Absa. He reports to newly-installed chairman-elect Sir David Walker, who himself replaced former chairman Marcus Agius. Agius resigned the day before Diamond and continues as chairman until November, when walker officially takes over.

StepStone, the New York-based private equity and investment firm, strengthened its Asian business with the appointment of Mu-Shin Kim and Andy Tsai as managing directors. Kim is now responsible for investment and business development in Korea and Japan, while Tsai handles Taiwan and broader Asia. Both are based in the Beijing office.