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Summary Of Asia-Pacific Executive Moves In Wealth Management - March 2013

18 July 2013

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.