ClearView Wealth named a new head of operations and technology.
Ton Thomas took on the newly created role and is accountable
for operations and information technology across the ClearView
business, MLC, the wealth management arm of National Australia
Bank, names a new head for its investment management business.
Jonathan Armitage assumed overall responsibility for MLC
Investment Management as chief investment officer.
The chairman and non-executive director of Bank of China resigned
on 17 March. Xiao Gang resigned from the position which he
held since 2003 “due to the need of the state financial work”,
the bank said. Xiao has started his new position as chairman of
the China Securities Regulatory Commission, taking over from
Guo Shuqing.
BlackRock, the international investment management and advisory
firm, named a new head of consultant relations for Asia ex-Japan.
Patrick O'Donnell assumes this newly-created role and is
responsible for developing and managing relationships with
investment consultants in the region. O'Donnell joined the firm
from BNP Paribas Investment Partners, where he held various roles
in Paris and Hong Kong.
Edelweiss, the Indian financial services group, bolstered its
wealth management offering with a new head. Ambareesh
Beliga took the role of managing partner for global wealth
management, bringing with him some 28 years of industry
experience.
Credit Suisse appointed a new chief executive, president and
representative director of Credit Suisse Securities Japan. Martin
Keeble is responsible for all the business activities of
Credit Suisse Securities Japan encompassing its private
banking and wealth management, and investment banking divisions.
He is based based in Tokyo and reports to Eric Varvel, Credit
Suisse’s CEO for Asia Pacific.
Prudential Real Estate Investors, the real estate investment
management and advisory business of Prudential Financial,
strengthened its Asia-Pacific business with a new appointment.
Morgan Laughlin is now head of the Asia business,
responsible for the firm's operations and strategy in
Asia-Pacific. Based in Tokyo, he took the reigns over from
Victoria Shigehira Sharpe.
Standard & Poor's Ratings Services, the international financial
services ratings agency, appointed a new chief economist for
Asia-Pacific. Paul Gruenwald is based in Singapore,
reporting jointly to Paul Sheard, the chief global economist and
head of global economics research, and Yu-Tsung Chang, the
executive managing director and head of Asia-Pacific.
Sidley Austin, the international law firm that deals with
financial services firms, recruited a new partner in Singapore.
Han Ming Ho specialises in investment funds, covering the
structuring and formation of funds for private equity clients,
hedge funds and venture capital firms. As part of this role, he
also serves as co-head of the company's Asia practice alongside
Effie Vasilopoulos, the partner for Hong Kong.
Religare Capital Markets, the Asia and India-focused capital
markets firm, appointed a new advisory head based in Singapore.
Nik Zairidin is now vice president of advisory, responsible for
overseeing the corporate finance team, including merger and
acquisition origination and execution. In this role, he reports
directly to Jason Barakat-Brown, the head of advisory.
Citi has appointed a new regional head of client sales management
for the financial institution segment in Asia Pacific for
securities and fund services. Jervis Smith is responsible
for managing sales and client coverage teams across the SFS
business in 17 markets in Asia Pacific, reporting to David
Russell, regional head, Asia Pacific for securities and fund
services, and Dirk Jones, global head financial institutions.
DST Global Solutions, the financial services technology provider,
appointed John Hogan as regional Anova solution manager for
Australia and New Zealand and Daniel Kennedy as regional Anova
solution manager for Asia. The Anova system delivers post-trade
investment data management, analytics and reporting capabilities.
Hogan is based in Melbourne, while Kennedy works from Singapore.
Both report to Julian Webb, global head of data management and
analytics.
Edison Investment Research, the international research house,
named Will Corkill as managing director and head of the
Asia-Pacific team, based in Sydeny. Corkill was previously an
institutional equity sales and account manager at the
Commonwealth Bank of Australia. In this new role, he manages
seven Asia-Pacific analysts while working closely with global
teams in Europe and North America.
The Monetary Authority of Singapore appointed Quek See Tiat to
its board of directors with a tenure of 1 March 2013 to 31 May
2015. Quek is the chairman of the Building and Construction
Authority and is also a board member of the Energy Market
Authority and Neptune Orient Lines Group. He assumed the seat
previously occupied by Lucien Wong, who stepped down in February
2013.
Former Lonsec Limited managing director John Graham has pleaded
guilty to two charges of insider trading. According to the
Australian Securities and Investments Commission, Graham sold
some 200,000 shares in Clean Seas Tuna across two client
accounts. Clean Seas was suffering a financial loss.
China Renaissance Securities named Jason Lam as managing director
and head of equity capital markets, based in Hong Kong. Lam was
previously the co-head of technology coverage for Asia at Credit
Suisse. Before that, he was with UBS Investment Asia's technology
unit. He now reports to Frank Au, president.
Australia's ClearView Wealth, not related to ClearView Media
Publishing, announced a series of senior appointments to build
its life insurance, wealth management and financial planning
businesses. Elliot Singfield was named head of direct, while Mike
Pope was appointed head of the financial advice firm. Other
appointments included Jason Jones as national sales manager for
wealth management, Kellie Byrne as business development manager
for New South Wales and Rob McPherson as state manager for
Western and Southern Australian.
Australian wealth manager Centric Wealth strengthened its board
with the appointment of Bonnie Boezeman AO as director. Boezeman
was the former chairperson of PayPal and director of Urban Growth
NSW.
Government of Singapore Investment Corporation announced a string
of appointments for itself and its asset management arm. Dr
Jeffrey Jaensubhakij was relocated from London to Singapore to
become the president of GIC Asset Management, replacing Lim Chow
Kiat. Lim Kee Chong, currently the deputy president of GAM and
director of global equities, also took a new role as deputy group
chief investment officer of GIC. Ang Eng Seng was named president
of the Europe office.
Hong Kong's Securities and Futures Commission has slapped a
lifetime ban on Du Jun, former managing director of Morgan
Stanley Asia, from providing financial services for his illegal
dealings related to the shares of CITIC Resources Holdings. Du
Jun was licensed by under the SFC to carry on Type 1 regulated
activities and was accredited by Morgan Stanley from 12 February
2004 to 5 June 2007. The SFC said he is not a "fit and proper
person" to be licensed.
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission has
permanently banned former Astarra Asset Management director
Eugene Liu from providing financial services for his failure to
comply with financial services laws. The ban is related to his
work in collapsed firm Trio Capital, which was placed into
liquidation in December 2009. AAM was the investment manager of
Astarra Strategic Fund, which had Trio as its responsible entity.
Alternative investment manager Gen2 Partners rebranded itself
following its split with its South Korea-focused fund arm. Kyle
Shin parted ways with founders Paul Heffner and Barry Lau in
January 2013 to manage the KS Asia Absolute Return Fund and
assume leadership of the rebranded entity Adamas Asset
Management. Heffner and Lau will continue operating under the
Gen2 Partners name. The two parties said the split was amicable
and that they are working out an arrangement that will allow
Shin's fund to continue trading under the Gen2 Partners brand.
Mesirow Financial Hong Kong, the local subsidiary of
Chicago-based Mesirow Financial Holdings, appointed Chae-Joo
Lee as head of Korea, to focus on client service and business
development activities in the area. This is a newly-created
position. Lee will be based in Hong kong and deal with Korea
and North Asia affairs.
RBC Investor & Treasury Services, a part of Royal Bank of
Canada, named Andrew Gordon as head of investor services for
Hong Kong and North Asia. Gordon most recently worked at BNY
Mellon, where he was an executive vice president and head of
alternative and broker dealer services for Asia-Pacific. He is
based in Hong Kong, reporting to David Travers, head of
investor services Asia-Pacific. Brent Reuter, whom Gordon
replaces, was appointed head of investors services US, based in
New York.
Daiwa Securities, one of the largest securities brokerage firms
in Japan, announced changes to its senior management team.
Effective 26 June 2013, Saburo Jifuku, Masaru Shirataki and
Hiroki Tsuda become senior managing directors and board
members, to replace Takatoshi Wakabayasahi, Toshihiro Onishi
and Koichi Uno who will be retiring. Wakabayashi moves on to
beocme president of Daiwa Securities Business Centre and
president of Daiwa Pension Consulting, while Onishi is to
become the executive managing director and EMD of Daiwa
Securities. The other changes include Hiroshi Nakamura, senior
EMD, to become deputy president, Masaaki Goto, Toshihiko
Onishi, Mikita Komatsu, Keiko Tashiro, Masahisa Nakagawa and
Tetsuo Akuzawa as EMDs (corporate executive officers) and
Masaru Shirataki, Takayuki Sawano, Yoshihisa Kaneko and Atsushi
Mochizuki as senior managing directors.
UK consulting firm IMS Group and HedgeOp Compliance name
Jonathan Currie as head of its newly-established branch in Hong
Kong. The Hong Kong arm is the firms' first Asian office and
will provide localised support to hedge funds, wealth managers
and alternative investment managers engaged in Asian markets.
HedgeOp Compliance merged with The IMS Group in early 2012.
The head of investment strategy at UBS' wealth management arm
in Australia has left. George Bourbouras is currently on
gardening leave and is "unlikely to be replaced," said the
company.
Gerard Doherty, country head of Fidelity Investment Australia,
resigned after five years at the company. In the meantime, Mark
Talbot, managing director for Asia-Pacific ex-Japan assumes the
post until a replacement is named. The company said Doherty's
departure is a private matter and declined to provide details.
BNY Mellon named a new president and a new chairman for its
Japan operations. Shizu Kishimoto is now representative
director and president of BNY Mellon Asset Management Japan,
taking over from Shogo Yamaguchi, who was named representative
director and chairman of the company. Based in Tokyo, both
report to Alan Harden, chief executive of the Asia-Pacific
investment management unit. The appointments come as BNY Mellon
moves to strengthen its business offerings in Japan in the next
three years.
Simmons & Simmons, the international law firm that deals with
financial institutions, named Dan Marjanovic as a banking
partner in Hong Kong, to focus on the South East Asian market.
Marjanovic joined the firm from Norton Rose Australia, where he
was a partner and national team leader of the banking and
finance team. He specialises in advising banks, sponsors and
corporate borrowers on cross-border financings in Asia and
Australia. He will be relocated to the Singapore office when
the firm obtains its license to operate in the city-state.
Manulife Financial bolstered its Asian business by naming
Philip Hampden-Smith as executive vice president and cheif
marketing officer for the region. Hampden-Smith joined the
company in 1996 as president and CEO of investment operations
in Hong Kong before becoming EVP and general manager for South
East Asia in 2006. In this new role, he is responsible for 11
territories across Asia.
Hong Kong's Securities and Futures Commission has banned former
Morgan Stanley Asia research associate Calvin Ho Kei Him from
re-entering the industry starting 12 March 2013 to 11 May 2014.
Ho had been found to have made false and misleading
declarations and failed to disclose pertinent information with
the regard to the accounts related to him. The issues were
identified during his time employment, from 2009 to 2011.
HSBC Private Bank announced Teddy Kwong as the new business
head in Hong Kong for global private banking. Kwong is not
replacing anyone, the firm said, and repots to Berand Rennell,
North Asia CEO for global private banking and global head of
private wealth solutions. He has been with the firm for 25
years, mostly working with families on the corporate
side.
BNP Paribas Real Estate, the property arm of French giant BNP
Paribas, launched two new platforms in Hong Kong and Singapore
in a bid to boost Asian investment into European real estate.
Three appointments were announced. Mark Kumarasinhe was named
managing director for North Asia, based in Hong Kong. Mathieu
Brummer was appointed deputy head for Hong Kong, reporting to
Kumarasinhe. Meanwhile in Singapre, Yo-Han Tan was named
managing director of South Asia, reporting to Jean-Pierre
Bernard, CEO for Singapore and regional head of South East
Asia.
Mercer, the international investment consulting firm, has
realigned its management teams across various businesses. Tim
Jenkins was named regional business leader for investments and
retirement for growth markets; Deborah Bannon is now
investments market business leader for Greater China; Garry
Hawker was named director of consulting for growth markets;
while Michelle Ng was promoted to head of advisory for Greater
China. The reorganisation is part of the new Growth Markets
organisational structure which was created in January 2013.
ABN AMRO Private Bank appointed Ian Pollock to head its North
Asia team. Pollock takes up this role starting 13 May 2013 and
will be based in Hong Kong, where he will be responsible for
running and developing the firm's Asia private banking
business. He most recently served as CEO for VP Bank in
Asia.
Steve Tucker, chief executive of MLC & NAB Wealth, has left the
firm after 25 years in service. He is replaced by Andrew
Hagger, current group executive of people, marketing and
communications, as group head.
Presima, the boutique fund manager aligned with National
Australia Bank, announced Peter Zabierek as its new chief
executive. He takes over from Nick Basile, who has been acting
CEO since April 2012. Basile remains a board member. Prior to
Presime, Zabierek as managing director and co-head of global
real estate securities at Urdang Capital Management in
Philadelphia.
Investment house AMP Capital appointed Andy Peng to the newly
created role of portfolio manager/analyst in its Hong
Kong-based Asian equities team. Peng covers the telecoms,
utilities and healthcare (Pan Asia) and consumer discretionary
(ex-Greater China) sectors, after previously serving as
investment analyst at Ward Ferry Management in Hong Kong. AMP
relocated its Asian equities team to Hong Kong in September
2012 to manage its Pan Asia and China A share portfolios.
