Royal Bank of Canada's wealth management arm has bolstered its Asia team with three senior hires, based in Singapore and Hong Kong.

Royal Bank of Canada's wealth management arm has bolstered its Asia team with three senior hires, based in Singapore and Hong Kong.

Febby Avianto, formerly at Sarasin bank, has joined RBC Wealth Management as managing director and market manager, and reports to Grace Barki, managing director and head of Southeast Asia. Avianto will be responsible for the overall management of strategy for all client-facing staff, based in the Singapore office, the bank told this publication in an emailed statement.

The Canadian wealth manager appointed Esther Quek as head of FX execution and advisory, “to provide high-touch service, advice and support for the FX product capabilities,” RBC said. Quek joins from Deutsche Bank and reports to Mary Sumners, head of investments, Asia Pacific, based in Hong Kong.

Meanwhile, Duncan She, formerly at Clariden Leu, has joined the bank as the head of structured products advisory, and reports to Sumners in Hong Kong as well.

Asia strategy

Simon Ng, head of wealth management and trust, Hong Kong, recently revealed expansion targets to WealthBriefingAsia. “We have a very ambitious plan in Asia; we would like to grow our current assets under management of about $11 billion to about $25 billion in above three years’ time,” he said in an exclusive interview.

He added that this would involve more than doubling the bank's Hong Kong and Singapore teams, which were 65-strong at the end of last year.

In the bid to win the best from a small talent pool in Asia, Ng said what attracts professionals to the RBC brand, besides the reputation of financial stability, is its Canadian charm. “We are a bit more friendly,” said Ng. “I’ve been with the bank for 16 years and I would say that our culture plays a very big part in influencing how we conduct business,” he added.