People Moves
Nomura Continues Asia-Pacific Recruitment Drive

The Japanese firm aims to more than triple assets under management in its IWM arm by March 2025. It has given more details on the people it has brought into its wealth business.
Nomura, which
reported its results a few days ago, yesterday said it has
hired more than 25 private bankers and investment advisors in
Singapore and Hong Kong for its international wealth management
business over the past six months.
The appointments are being added after Ravi Raju
took up the spot of head of IWM in September last
year. In January, the Japanese firm said that it had
recruited more than 20 wealth management professionals.
Nomura said it wants to boost assets under management by at
“least threefold in the medium term.”
“The core of our ambitions to build a global wealth platform for
clients lies in recruiting the right people. I am confident our
new joiners, all of them seasoned professionals from the wealth
management industry, will enhance client coverage and advice, and
help strengthen our presence across Greater China, Southeast
Asia, the Indian subcontinent and the Middle East,” Raju
said.
“Aligning with global markets and investment banking has allowed
international wealth management to deepen its institutional
product suite to meet the sophisticated needs of entrepreneurs
and ultra-high net worth clients. We are now in a strong position
to offer them structured products, financing and derivatives
solutions,” Rig Karkhanis, deputy head of global markets and head
of global markets, Asia ex-Japan, said.
Some of the senior hires include:
Client coverage
Richard Hu, managing director, group head for Greater China
relationship management. He joined from Bank of Singapore where
he was MD and market head for Greater China. He has more than 20
years of experience in wealth management, having worked at Julius
Baer, and the private banking divisions of HSBC, Credit Suisse,
UBS and Citi in previous roles, focusing on Chinese and Taiwanese
high net worth clients.
Melani Hoesada, MD and team lead for Southeast Asia. She has more
than 30 years of experience in private banking and has had
several prominent roles as team head and senior relationship
manager across institutions. Before joining Nomura, Hoesada was a
client advisor and desk head at UBS Wealth Management. Prior to
that, she was team head at Deutsche Wealth Management.
Kapil Poply, MD and team lead to cover the Southeast Asia and
non-resident Indian markets. He has more than 20 years’
experience managing ultra-high net worth clients and joined from
Standard Chartered where he was a managing director in private
banking.
Jeanna Chan, executive director, team lead for Greater China. She
has more than 25 years of private banking, investment banking and
asset management experience. These include her positions as
executive director and team head for the Greater China region at
Bank of Singapore and director and senior relationship manager
for the same region at Credit Suisse.
Sarah Lee, executive director, team lead covering the Greater
China market. She joined from Deutsche Bank where she had a
similar role serving HNW clients from China, Hong Kong and
Taiwan.
Andrew Au, executive director, relationship manager in the
Greater China team. Prior to Nomura, he was an advisor for about
a year with Hong Kong-based Maxco, which provides business
advisory services to corporates and individuals.
David Huang, executive director and RM for Greater China. He
moved from Bank of Singapore where he was an executive director
focused on ultra-HNW clients from China. He has been in Hong Kong
since 2006, when he joined UBS’s private bank and has also worked
in the private banking divisions of BNP Paribas and Bank of China
in the city.
Gaurav Gupta, appointed executive director and RM for Southeast
Asia and NRI markets. He joined from Standard Chartered’s private
bank where he was an executive director in the division focusing
on the global South Asian community. He has over 16 years’
experience in managing UHNW non-resident Indian and global client
relationships across Southeast Asia and the Middle East. His
previous stints in private banking include UOB and ANZ in
Singapore, and HSBC and ING in Mumbai, India.
Sharon Bahl, executive director, RM covering the NRI market,
brings over 30 years of experience in wealth management. She
moved from BNP Paribas where she worked for almost nine years in
Singapore in multiple capacities, starting as director and RM
within the key client group and later as director and team leader
for the UAE desk within the NRI team. Before that, she worked at
Barclays Private Bank in Singapore and Credit Suisse in
London.
Gautam Sareen was named executive director and RM to cover the
Southeast Asia and NRI markets. He has over 18 years of
experience as a relationship manager covering Southeast Asia and
the Indian subcontinent. He joined from BNP Paribas.
Nishant Chugh, executive director and RM focusing on Southeast
Asia. Prior to Nomura, he was a director in private banking at
BNP Paribas in Singapore. He has 15 years’ industry
experience.
Investment products and advisory
solutions
Gareth Nicholson, executive director, chief investment officer
and head of discretionary portfolio management. He joined from
Bank of Singapore where he was executive director, head of fixed
income discretionary portfolio management. Previously, he spent
12 years with Aberdeen Standard Investments as a senior portfolio
manager.
Symon Tilberis, executive director and head of family office
services, who has spent 19 years in international wealth and
asset management. Prior to Nomura, he was an executive director
at BNP Paribas, where he headed the key client group, working
with Asian single-family offices and UHNW clients. He also worked
for UBS.
Olaf van Duijnhoven, executive director and team lead, investment
advisory. He moved from Standard Chartered Private Bank where he
worked for 10 years. He also worked at Deutsche Bank.
Albert Wong, executive director, investment advisors. He has been
in the banking industry for 20 years. Before Nomura, he was an
investment counsellor at HSBC Private Bank, and before that,
global investment specialist at JP Morgan Private Bank. He has
also held multiple positions across products structuring and
client servicing at Citi Private Bank and Merrill Lynch.