A roundup of the moves and appointments in the industry during April. Several standout appointments were made at firms such as Standard Chartered, Citigroup and BNP Paribas.

The international private banking arm of Deutsche Bank made two appointments in its Asia-Pacific discretionary portfolio management arm. Stefanie Holtze-Jen was named as head of DPM for Asia-Pacific, and Harsh Agarwal was made DPM head of fixed income in Asia.

Based in Singapore, Holtze-Jen took on responsibility for DPM, Asia-Pacific, in addition to her role as chief investment officer, Asia-Pacific. She reports to Tuan Huynh, global head of discretionary portfolio management, in addition to her CIO reporting line.

Agarwal, who reports to Holtze-Jen, joined Deutsche Bank in 2013 and has more than 15 years of experience in the fixed income markets, spanning local currency credits, investment grade, high yield, distressed debt, and convertible bonds. He was most recently co-head of APAC credit desk strategy, and a senior member of the global credit trading team in the investment bank. 

Manulife Investment Management appointed Jessie Liu as head of transactions and portfolio management, real estate, private markets, Asia. In her new role, she reports to Marc Feliciano, global head of real estate, private markets, and will join Manulife Investment Management’s global real estate leadership team. Since joining Manulife Investment Management in 2019, Liu led and completed multiple investment transactions in key Asia markets across different property types including logistics, commercial and multi-family. She is based in Hong Kong. 

Channel Islands-based financial services firm PraxisIFM Group named Katja Daborn as managing director of its Hong Kong office. Daborn, who has been at the firm for 15 years, leads a 15-strong team. She began her career by attaining an LLB (Hons) law degree specialising in German law. With prior experience in employment law, Daborn is also experienced in employee matters, and can speak many languages including English, German and French.

Julius Baer named former UOB Private Bank senior figure Wai Meng Loh as team head for Greater China. Wai Meng Loh is based in Singapore. Wai Meng Loh worked for five years at UOB, most recently as senior team leader for the North Asia market. Prior to this, he worked at senior management level at AirAsia, Singapore Press Holdings and OCBC Bank.

T Rowe Price appointed Ramon Maronilla as fixed income portfolio specialist, based in Hong Kong. Maronilla joined the firm’s investment specialist group, which has 46 specialists globally. Maronilla reports to Sydney-based Nick Beecroft, Asia-Pacific head of investment specialist group. Prior to this, he spent 11 years at JP Morgan Asset Management, where he was a managing director and head of fixed income investment specialists for Asia-Pacific-ex Japan. 

Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation appointed Tomofumi Watanabe as managing director and co-general manager of the structured finance department, Asia-Pacific division. Watanabe was previously based in Tokyo where he served as the GM of global structured finance department Tokyo. He has more than 10 years’ experience overseeing various structured finance transactions, including telecommunications, theme parks, transportation, shipping, energy, power and other infrastructure. Watanabe was also responsible for overseeing the opening of the SMBC office in Silicon Valley, California. In his new role, based in Singapore, Watanabe is overseeing the bank’s regional portfolio focused on sustainable energy, infrastructure and natural resources. Watanabe, who succeeded Ken Tomisaki, reports to the managing executive officers and co-heads of the Asia-Pacific division – Yuichi Nishimura and Rajeev Kannan.

BNP Paribas appointed former Deutsche Bank figure Stanley Song in the newly-created role of head of BNP Paribas Securities Services in China. Song is based in Shanghai and reports to CG Lai, chief executive of BNP Paribas China Limited and Franck Dubois, head of Asia-Pacific for BNP Paribas Securities Services. He joined Philippe Kerdoncuff, who has been steering BNP Paribas Securities Services since 2016 as the co-head. Before this role, Song was head of Securities Services for Deutsche Bank China. Previously, he served in senior client management and fund services roles at HSBC, State Street and Standard Chartered in China.

Standard Chartered appointed long-standing senior figure Sachin Bhambani as head of wealth management for South Korea. Based in Singapore as life insurance group head, Bhambani relocated to Seoul, South Korea in May. Bhambani reports to Hojune Ryan Chang, head of consumer, private and business banking head, South Korea and Marc Van de Walle, global head, wealth management.

Bhambani joined Standard Chartered in India in 2000, serving in leadership roles across segment management, branch banking, cash equities, bancassurance, managed investments and wealth lending before relocating to Thailand as head of wealth management. He then moved to Singapore to join the group wealth management team in 2017 as group head of non-life insurance before subsequently becoming group head of life insurance from 2020.

Tim Tu, the chief executive for Credit Suisse’s China joint venture, stepped down to follow other opportunities inside the Swiss banking group. Tu has been CEO of Credit Suisse Securities China Limited (CSSCL) since July 2020 after the bank obtained a 51 per cent stake in the securities joint venture. Daniel Qiu was made interim CEO of CSSCL. 

Qiu assumed this role alongside his existing responsibilities as head of investment banking and capital markets (IBCM) at CSSCL – a post he has held since October 2020. Joining the bank in Hong Kong in 2010 as a managing director in IBCM, Qiu has more than 20 years of experience in the global financial services industry, including in the US, Singapore, Hong Kong and Mainland China.

Julius Baer appointed Christine Soong as group head Greater China. Based in Hong Kong, Soong reports to David Shick, head of private banking Greater China and branch manager for Hong Kong. Soong worked in the wealth sector for more than three decades, focused particularly on clients in the China and Taiwan markets. Since joining Julius Baer in 2018 as a team head, she was subsequently promoted to deputy group head for Greater China in October 2021. Previously, she held senior positions at Standard Chartered Private Bank, Core Pacific, KGI Wealth Management and Taishin Holdings Hong Kong.

Saxo Capital Markets HK, the online trading and investment group that is part of Denmark’s Saxo Bank, appointed Ken Shih as head of wealth management, Greater China. Lester Chan was the former head of wealth management in the region. Reporting to Manish Prasad, head of asset management, Asia-Pacific, Shih oversees all aspects of Saxo Markets’ wealth management strategies and offerings in the Greater China region. Based in Hong Kong, Shih also reports to Richard Douglas, CEO of Hong Kong. Shih, an 18-year financial industry veteran, previously held senior sales and strategy positions at HSBC, UBS, JP Morgan and other top financial institutions in the US and Hong Kong. For the past three years, Shih was head of sales and marketing at Hong Kong-based fintech start-up AQUMON.

UOB Malaysia appointed Ng Wei Wei as its first female chief executive, taking over from Wong Kim Choong, who stepped down from the post after leading the bank since 2012. Wong took on a new role as senior advisor, overseeing the integration of the bank’s and Citigroup’s retail banking business, until his planned retirement. Ng is an experience banker who, in the earlier part of her career from 2000 to 2006, honed her banking skills at UOB Malaysia. Following various leadership roles at global financial institutions in Malaysia and Hong Kong, she returned to UOB Malaysia in 2019 as managing director and country head of wholesale banking, before assuming the role of deputy CEO in 2021.

Union Bancaire Privée appointed Roger Meier as head of sales and client trading for Asia, reporting to Dimitri Platonoff, head of treasury and trading for Asia. Prior to this, Meier led the structured products advisory and sales teams at Julius Baer,  where he had covered the Asia-Pacific region since 2010. Meier, who has more than 30 years of experience in the financial industry, is based in Singapore.

Citigroup appointed Angel Ng as head of Asia-Pacific global wealth management. Ng, who heads the US bank’s integrated wealth platform serving clients across the wealth continuum from the affluent to high net worth, is Citi CEO for Hong Kong and Macau. Based in Hong Kong, she reports to Peter Babej, Asia-Pacific CEO, and Jim O’Donnell, CEO of global wealth management. Ng also leads Citi’s personal banking franchises in Hong Kong and Singapore, including retail banking, cards and loans. She is taking over from Fabio Fontainha and Steven Lo, formerly co-heads of global wealth management for APAC, who have moved into new roles. Fontainha is global head of Citigold and Citigold Private Clients, leading Citi’s global client strategy across these client segments. Lo became head of Citi Private Bank for APAC.

IQ-EQ, the investor services group, appointed David Kim as its new chief commercial officer for Asia, based in Singapore. Kim has more than 25 years’ experience in the financial services industry. Prior to joining IQ-EQ, he served as head of client services, Southeast Asia for a prominent financial institution. 

ING appointed Martijn Hoogerwerf as head of sustainable finance for the Asia-Pacific region. Based in Singapore, Hoogerwerf joined ING’s Sustainable Finance APAC team in 2019. He has more than 10 years’ experience in sustainable finance markets, where he took on a variety of climate-related investment and advisory roles. Hoogerwerf reports functionally to Ana Carolina Oliveira, global head of sustainable finance (ad interim) and regionally to Catherine Low, head of lending and transaction services for APAC.

Citigroup’s Australia’s markets business appointed a new managing director, Nicki Ashton, as senior relationship manager, working on the superannuation offering – aka retirement funds. Ashton previously worked in the bank’s equities and trading business before moving to asset management, where she served in a variety of management positions, most recently with IFM Investors and Pendal Group.

Standard Chartered in Hong Kong named Alson Ho as head of wealth management in the jurisdiction. Ho reports to Lay Choo Ong, head of consumer, private and business banking (CPBB), Hong Kong and Marc Van de Walle, global head, wealth management.

Prior to joining Standard Chartered, Ho headed the Hong Kong insurance business for Citibank.

Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation made Singapore-based appointments of Yuichi Nishimura and Rajeev Kannan as managing executive officers and co-heads of the Asia-Pacific Division.