National Australia Bank named Lara Bourguignon as managing director of its wealth unit Plum Financial Services. Bourguignon was previously a senior strategist for NAB Wealth.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch announced Simon Lucocq as head of technology and operations in the Asia-Pacific region based in Hong Kong. Lucocq was previously with Nomura where for the last four years he was the global chief information officer. He now reports to Bill Pappas, CIO for global wholesale banking, and has regional accountability to Matthew Koder, president for Asia-Pacific.

US asset manager Principal Global Invesors named Mihail Dobrinov as head of its emerging markets equities team to replace Michael Reynal, who has left the firm. Dobrinov, who joined the company in 1995 as international and emerging market debt and currency specialist, inherited the management of some $9.3 billion in assets for clients in the region.

Australian Securities and Investments Commission announced plans to increase its advisor numbers head of the planned launch of the Future of Financial Advice legislation in 2013. So far, the ASIC has listed eight vacant positions in the Sydney and Melbourne branches for advisors specialising in risk management and compliance and legal.

Brooks Entwistle, partner and chairman for the Goldman Sachs' South East Asia business announced his retirement effective the end of 2012. Entwistle has been with the company for 20 years. He will not be totally leaving the bank on his retirement, however, and will stay on as advisory director.

UK-listed Henderson Global Investors named Matt Gaden as head of distribution for the Australian business. Gaden was the general manager for institutional business and strategic alliances for Challenger Limited. He now reports to Rob Adams, executive chairman of Henderson Australia.

Cushman & Wakefield, the global real estate services firm, opened its fifth office in Asia for 2012 in the Philippines and appointed Joe Curran as general manager. Curran was previously with CBRE Philippines, where he worked for eight years. The move is in line with the company's five-year aggressive expansion plan in Asia-Pacific.

French fund house Oddo Asset Management opened its first office in Asia and out of Europe and named Roy Diao as chief executive. Diao joined the firm in October from BNP Paribas Investment Partners. He operates alone in Singapore in the interim while the firm builds up a team. He repots to Nicolas Chaput, the Paris-based CEO of the asset management business.

Perpetual Private, the wealth arm of Perpetual Limited, named Mark Smith as its new group executive, succeeding Nick Langton, who returned to his old position of general manager of private client advise. Smith is based in Sydney and reports to Geoff Lloyd, chief executive.

Citi named former Australian first minister for superannuation and corporate law Nick Sherry to the newly-created role of senior advisor to securities and fund services, part of the firm’s transaction services division. The establishment of the role addresses predictions that Australia's super industry will triple is size by 2035.

Newly-opened Australian financial advisory firm Shartru Wealth Management opened its first branch and named Dr John Hewson, Linden Toll and Andrew Meakin as its board members. Hewson is the chairman of Shartru Capital, its parent firm, while Toll and Meakin are executive directors.

Standard Chartered Private Bank named Desmond Liu as managing director and head of private banking, Hong Kong and North East Asia, to lead the strategic direction of the business in greater China and north-east Asia. This is a newly-created Hong Kong-based role. Liu reports to Mary Huen, head of consumer banking, Hong Kong and to Rajesh Malkani, head of private bank, East.

Credit Suisse restructured its global operations, effectively scrapping the roles of dedicated chief executive for Asia-Pacific and EMEA, among others. Osama Abbasi and Fawzi Kyriakos-Saad, who served as CEOs for those two regions, have left the firm. It is not known to where they are moving.

Withers relocated Eric Wallace, its London partner, to Hong Kong on increasing demand for international legal services in Asia. Wallace was tasked to focus on international tax, probate, and trust and estate planning, with a particular focus on US persons and property.

BNY Mellon strengthened its Hong Kong operations with the hire of Fred DiCocco as head of sales and relationship management, treasury services, for Asia-Pacific. DiCocco became part of BNY Mellon in 1998 and has held a number of senior roles in trade and payments since relocating to Hong Kong in 2006. His most recent role was as treasury services Asia-Pacific market manager.

Northern Trust expanded its tax solutions capacity in Australia and New Zealand with the appointment of Zaf Kardaras as tax manager, supporting financial and tax reporting for clients in the funds management and superannuation industries. Based in Melbourne, he leads a team of 60 professionals specialising in fund accounting, unit pricing, financial reporting and tax. He joined from PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Citi Hong Kong announced Weber Lo as the new country officer and chief executive for Hong Kong and Macau, effective 1 January 2013. Lo assumes the lead role, replacing Shengman Zhang, who will continue his role as co-chairman for Citi Asia-Pacific. Lo is currently the head of the consumer banking business in Hong Kong and Macau, covering retail banking, investment, insurance, credit card and consumer lending, as well as commercial banking.

Coutts, the private bank, continued its run of top-rank hires with the appointment of Joseph Lam as managing director and head of the private office North Asia, based in Hong Kong. The role is a newly created position. Lam joined from Merrill Lynch.

Bell Asset Management, the Australian investment management firm, strengthened its senior management roster with three appointments. Jessica Grant is now head of business development, Jack Osborn is now an equity analyst, while Farhaana Desai is compliance manager. Grant joined BAM after serving a similar role with Macquarie Group and brings seven years of financial planning experience to the firm. Osborn used to be with Macquarie Private Wealth, while Desai held a compliance and governance post at UCA Funds Management.

Franklin Templeton Investments bulked up its advisory services team by appointing Matthew Hattersley to the role of northern region key account manager based in Sydney. Hattersley previously worked for the likes of Invesco, Credit Suisse, Bridges Financial Services and BT Funds. In this new role, he is responsible for national key accounts and dealer groups partnerships in New South Wales, the ACT and Queensland.

Manulife International appointed Steve Chiu as vice president for investment funds, Hong Kong. Chiu joined the firm from Bosera Asset Management, where he was managing director for of the Hong Kong business. Before that, he was managing director at AIA Wealth Management. He now reports to Michael Huddart, executive vice president and chief executive of Hong Kong.

Northern Trust named financial services veteran Bo Kratz as managing director for the Asia-Pacific asset management business. Kratz used to work for Permal and ABN Amro Asset Management in Hong Kong and Singapore. In his new role, he leads the $50 billion Asia-Pac asset management team and reports functionally to Wayne Bowers and locally to Teresa Parker, chief executive for Asia-Pacific.

Credit Suisse cut a number of roles in its asset management operations in Singapore, including some high-ranking executives. The bank did not expand on specific roles or give names, but WealthBriefing Asia can confirm that several people will be leaving. Credit Suisse declined to comment on the issue, but said that any changes will not affect the manufacturing of products.

Coutts, the UK-headquartered private banking and wealth management firm, appointed Ray Chan as executive director, head of Philippines. Chan previously worked for Morgan Stanley in Hong Kong, where he was responsible for building an offshore Philippine team targetting the ultra-high net worth market. He now reports to Ignatius KK Chong, head of Hong Kong.