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Weekly roundup of people news, Aug 18

GIC hires first CTO; BNP Paribas AM shuffles wholesale team, adds Australia sales head; Waterfield Advisors appoints first COO; Thirdrock adds five client advisers; Schroders replaces relationship director; Axa makes leadership changes; Taiwan FSC switches bureau heads; Insight Investment replaces distribution head.
Weekly roundup of people news, Aug 18

GIC NAMES TECHNOLOGY CHIEF

Singapore's GIC has hired Wu Choy-Peng to the newly created role of chief technology officer, effective August 14. She will provide integrated oversight for technology and data analytics at the sovereign wealth fund.

“In a landscape that is increasingly uncertain and competitive, GIC actively leverages technology to harness data, deepen insights and sharpen its edge," said the fund in a statement.

GIC did not respond to a query about how technology and data analytics were covered before Wu's appointment.

Before joining GIC, Wu was group chief information officer of Singapore Telecommunications. She has also served as the Singapore government’s chief information officer, deputy chief executive of the Infocomm Development Authority and chief information officer of the city state's Ministry of Education.

BNP PARIBAS AM RINGS CHANGES TO WHOLESALE TEAM

BNP Paribas Asset Management has made senior changes to its wholesale team in Hong Kong and Singapore.

Serena Sim joins from US fund house Legg Mason in the newly created role of Singapore head of wholesale distribution, while Mandy Lui's has assumed an expanded role of head of wholesale distribution for China, Hong Kong and Singapore. Both changes became effective this month.

Lui retains her duties as head of private wealth distribution for North Asia, a post she took up in November 2015. She will now focus on regional cross-border business for Singapore, Hong Kong and China, and is responsible for coordinating Hong Kong and China wholesale distribution, said a spokesman.

Eric Ng heads China and Hong Kong wholesale distribution, having rejoined from Aberdeen Asset Management in March.

Ng and Sim report to Lui, who in turn reports to Christian Bucaro, Asia-Pacific head of wholesale distribution at BNP Paribas AM.

The firm declined to comment on who had overseen Singapore coverage before Sim joined.

She was vice president of business development at Legg Mason since March 2015, according to her LinkedIn profile. Legg Mason did not respond to an emailed query by press time.

INDIAN FAMILY OFFICE APPOINTS COO

Mumbai-based multi-family office Waterfield Advisors has appointed Kartik Kini as its first chief operating officer, effective August 3. 

Kini was previously chief administrative officer at Avendus Wealth Management, another Indian firm. He left the company on August 1 and has been replaced by Natarajan Balakrishnan, who was previously an independent business consultant.

Kini has also worked at Deutsche Bank and Merrill Lynch.

Waterfield is also looking to add an executive to help source private equity investments, AsianInvestor reported last week. The MFO has about $2 billion under advisory on behalf of 32 clients.

THIRDROCK ADDS FIVE TO CLIENT ADVISORY TEAM

Multi-family office Thirdrock Group has boosted its client advisory team by five this year.

The Singapore-based firm has hired Arthur Fong and Martin Lim as senior client advisers at managing director level. Richard Lewis, Rainer Teo and Nikhil Niyogi have joined as client advisers and senior directors. 

They all report to Jasper Lai, head of client advisory and mandates, and bring the client advisory team up to about 15. 

Fong started his new role on August 7. He left his position as head of Greater China at Bank of Singapore last year. 

Lim joined Thirdrock in early April. He previously worked at Standard Chartered Private Bank, where he was head of the Malaysia team before leaving in October 2016. Client advisers James Tang and Andy Teo are now responsible for Malaysia coverage. 

Lewis and Teo both joined Thirdrock in late April from Singapore-based asset manager OneAsia Investment Partners, where they were directors of wealth management, according to Thirdrock’s website. OneAsia could not be reached for comment by press time.

Nikhil Niyogi joined Thirdrock in early May and was previously director of wealth management and part of the South Asia coverage team at Deutsche Bank. The German firm confirmed that Niyogi left in January but declined to comment further.

SCHRODERS REPLACES RELATIONSHIP DIRECTOR 

Schroder Investment Management has named Anthony Yeung as relationship director for private banks and global financial client group.

Yeung succeeds Alex Prawitz, who will relocate to Frankfurt at the end of August to take up the role of head of central and eastern Europe and Mediterranean. 

Yeung reports to Zal Devitre, Asia head of private banks and global financial client group at Schroders.

Yeung was previously an associate director responsible for intermediary channels in Hong Kong at M&G and left the firm on July 21. Ben Cherrington, Asia-Pacific head of intermediary channels, is overseeing the Hong Kong distribution team while the company seeks a replacement for Yeung.

BNP PARIBAS AM ADDS IN AUSTRALIA SALES 

BNP Paribas Asset Management has added an Australia head of business development head. Based in Sydney, Toby Coleman started working as senior business development manager on the institutional team on July 3.

This is a newly created role, said a spokesperson. Coleman's duties were previously spread among the three other members of the team, who now report to him. Coleman reports to David Grybas, Australia chief executive of BNP Paribas AM.

Coleman joined the French firm from Australian wealth manager Perpetual, where he had worked as institutional sales manager since March 2015, according to his Linkedin profile. Perpetual did not reply to an emailed enquiry by press time.

AXA ANNOUNCES NEW SINGAPORE CEO

French insurer Axa has appointed Jean Drouffe as chief executive for Singapore to succeed Doina Palici-Chehab, who has been promoted to interim Asia CEO of Axa.

Drouffe was previously Asia CEO for the general insurance business, based in Hong Kong, and has been with Axa for 17 years. He now reports to Palici-Chehab. A spokesperson said the firm had not announced a replacement for Drouffe.

Hong Kong-based Palici-Chehab takes over from Jean-Louis Laurent Josi, who announced he was stepping down from the post of Asia CEO on June 20. He will remain with the group as senior adviser until the end of 2017.

Axa declined to comment on why Palici-Chehab had been named interim Asia CEO.

TAIWAN FSC NAMES NEW INSURANCE BUREAU CHIEF

Wu Kuei-mao, former director general of the financial examination bureau at Taiwan’s Financial Supervisory Commission, has been named head of the FSC's insurance bureau, effective August 15.

Wu succeeds Jenny Lee, who retired on August 15, the FSC said in a statement. Wang Li-chuan, head of the FSC’s banking bureau, will succeed Wu. Jean Chiu, FSC secretary general, will succeed Wang as head of the banking bureau. 

INSIGHT INVESTMENT NAMES GLOBAL DISTRIBUTION HEAD

London-based Insight Investment has appointed Angus Woolhouse as its new global head of distribution, effective on July 24, reporting to chief executive Abdallah Nauphal. 

Before joining Insight, Woolhouse was global head of distribution at Baring Asset Management until September 2016.

Woolhouse replaces Philip Anker, who has left Insight Investment, a spokesperson said. Anker had been with the firm for four years, according to his LinkedIn profile.

This comes after Insight hired Adam Kibble as product specialist for Australia in May. Based in Sydney, Kibble covers currency, multi-asset and fixed income and reports to Bruce Murphy, director of Australia and New Zealand. 

Kibble was most recently division director for fixed income, currency and commodities at Macquarie Funds Management, where he had worked for 18 years until April 2012. He took a career break before joining Insight, according to his LinkedIn profile.

Other people news reported on AsianInvestor in the past week:

Natixis Global AM hires new Taiwan head

BNY Mellon IM hires Asia head of consultant relations

¬ Haymarket Media Limited. All rights reserved.
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