Weekly roundup of job-hoppers, April 5
BNP Paribas wealth arm names NRI team leader
France’s BNP Paribas Wealth Management has named Dhananjai Cadambi as team leader for its non-resident Indian (NRI) business for Singapore and Southeast Asia.
In this newly created role, Singapore-based Cadambi will build a new team of relationship managers dedicated to NRI clients for Singapore and Southeast Asia and will report to Stephane Honig, head of Indian markets. This will see Cadambi add to the 20-plus private bankers already focused on the Indian markets.
He joins from Morgan Stanley, where he was head of NRI team for three years, and prior to that he worked for Barclays Wealth. He has also been team leader and relationship manager focusing at Société Générale Private Banking in Singapore.
Cadambi’s departure comes as part of a restructuring at Morgan Stanley in its Private Wealth Management business for Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Thie move will see that unit merged with the firm’s institutional securities group and follows a similar integration of its Asian PWM business.
Cadambi left Morgan Stanley on March 13, and it is understood that he will not be directly replaced.
Managing Partners hires former Allianz GI CMO
Singapore-based boutique alternative fund manager Managing Partners has named Benjamin Lim as its business development director for Asia. He reports to managing director Jeremy Leach and will work in the firm’s Asia sales operation.
Lim was most recently chief marketing officer at Allianz Global Investors for Singapore and Southeast Asia, a position he held from April 2011.
A spokeswoman for Allianz GI says he left just a few months after joining the group and has been replaced by marketing heads for their respective local markets. Ben Tai took over as head of retail distribution for Singapore in September 2011.
Prior to joining Allianz, Lim was Asia head of business development at Aviva Investors Singapore and had also held a similar role at Aberdeen Asset Management.
A spokesman for Managing Partners confirmed that Lim joined last month, but declined to say whether his role is a replacement. The fund currently runs three funds: the traded policies fund, sovereign high-security fund and Elysium high-protection fund.
BoA Merrill hires in prime brokerage
Bank of America Merrill Lynch has appointed Deepak Abraham as head of Asia-Pacific capital strategy for prime brokerage.
Based in Hong Kong and reporting to Graham Seaton, Abraham is due to start on June 1 and will advise on helping hedge funds raise money from investors including sovereign wealth funds, royal families, pension funds and family offices.
Abraham replaces Sam Tabar, who left last May along with a string of executives from the prime brokerage arm. The most significant departure is Jim Fallon, who had been director of financing sales and was the most senior member of the Singapore prime brokerage team, as reported.
Abraham was most recently prime brokerage head for the Middle East and North Africa at Morgan Stanley. As such, he developed relationships with clients in the region including sovereign wealth funds and royal families.
Morgan Stanley could not confirm by press time whether Abraham has been or will be replaced.
HSBC property exec leaves for LaSalle
HSBC has lost Jason Kern, its head of real estate and lodging advisory for Asia-Pacific, to property fund house LaSalle Investment Management.
Kern founded HSBC’s Asia-Pacific real estate and hotel group, part of the group’s property investment banking franchise in Asia. He has advised on IPOs, equity and bond issues, private equity capital raising and asset acquisition and sales in the Asian property sector, with total transaction volume of over $50 billion. HSBC declined to comment on whether Kern had been or would be replaced.
He will be LaSalle IM’s Americas chief executive based in Chicago and reporting to Jeff Jacobson, global CEO. He will join the group’s global management committee and the North American private equity investment committee.
Kern replaces Peter Schaff, who announced his decision last year to step down, but he will remain with the firm until the end of 2013 as part-time North America chairman.
Avaloq adds Asia-Pacific head
Swiss banking software vendor Avaloq has named Peter Scott as general manager for Asia Pacific, reporting to CEO Francisco Fernandez, effective 1 April. He joins from rival banking technology provider Misys, where he was global head of retail and international banking.
Scott oversees the group’s regional banking and wealth management solutions markets from its Singaporean headquarters. Avaloq already has a presence in Hong Kong and opened a Sydney office in February after signing its first customer in Australia.
He comes to replace Mathias Schutz, who had been general manager for western and southern Europe, as well as for Asia Pacific; the role has now been split between them.
Other people moves reported on AsianInvestor this week: