Weekly roundup of people news, Aug 25
SSGA REPLACES ASIA HEAD OF EQUITY BETA SOLUTIONS
State Street Global Advisors (SSGA) has promoted Mark Hui to head of global equity beta solutions for Asia ex-Japan, replacing David Chai.
Hui was previously senior portfolio manager for indexing investment and reported to Chai, who left the fund house in June, as first reported by AsianInvestor.
Based in Hong Kong, Hui is now responsible for portfolios invested in SSGA's index strategies. He reports to Susan Darroch, head of global equity beta solutions for Asia-Pacific ex-Japan.
Hui has also worked as head of indexation and ETFs at HSBC Global Asset Management and a global asset allocation portfolio manager at Legg Mason Asset Management.
Hui first joined SSGA as a portfolio manager for passive portfolios and ETFs in 2003 and rejoined as senior portfolio manager in 2015. A spokesperson said SSGA would hire another portfolio manager for its global equity beta solutions team, with Hui retaining his portfolio management duties until the appointment was completed.
UBS AM ADDS CHINA PORTFOLIO MANAGER
UBS Asset Management has hired Wang Zizheng in Shanghai as a portfolio manager overseeing onshore China equities, effective July 10. He reports to Bin Shi, Hong Kong-based head of China equities.
UBS AM added the position to support business growth as it received a mainland private fund licence on July 13, a spokesperson said.
Wang previously worked as a Beijing-based research analyst at Hong Kong-based Hillhouse Capital, according to his LinkedIn page. Hillhouse did not reply to AsianInvestor's queries by press time.
HARVEST POACHES PORTFOLIO MANAGER FROM RBC
Harvest Global Investments (HGI) added Winnie Wong as a fixed income portfolio manager in Hong Kong last month, AsianInvestor can reveal.
She reports to chief investment officer Thomas Kwan in the newly created role in July. The company declined to specify the starting day.
A spokeswoman said Wong was part of a fixed income team of about 10, which is part of Kwan's investment team of about 30 people. There is no region focus and no head for the fixed income team, the spokeswoman added.
Prior to joining HGI, she spent seven years at Royal Bank of Canada in Hong Kong as research analyst and portfolio manager for the Asian convertibles and fixed income portfolios. RBC declined to comment on the matter.
PARTNERS GROUP NAMES HEAD OF JAPAN BUSINESS
Swiss private markets manager Partners Group appointed Shunsuke Tanahashi as head of its Japan business in April.
He succeeded Junichiro Kawamura, who remains with the firm as senior vice-president in the Tokyo office.
He reports to Asia chairman Kevin Lu.
Tanahashi was previously chief executive at Ark Totan Alternative. He left the company, which has investment management and brokerage divisons, in March. He has also worked for Ant Capital, Goldman Sachs Asset Management and Mitsubishi UFJ Trust Bank.
A spokesperson for Ark Totan Alternative said Taketa Furuya had been appointed president and CEO, but did not say what his previous role was.
SAVILLS IM ADDS RESEARCH MANAGER
UK-based property specialist Savills Investment Management has hired Benedict Lai in Singapore as Asia research manager, effective on August 21.
He joins in a newly created role as the firm's second research team member in Asia, alongside Will Johnson, head of research for Japan. The rest of Savills’ Asia research is conducted in Europe.
Lai reports to London-based chief investment officer Kiran Patel.
Before joining Savills, Lai was an assistant vice president for Asia Pacific research at PGIM. PGIM didn't respond to queries by press time.
DBS PB HIRES CONSULTANT FROM BNP PARIBAS
DBS Private Bank has hired Timothy Thiam as an investment consultant this month, based in Singapore, according to his LinkedIn page.
Thiam was most recently an investment funds adviser at BNP Paribas Wealth Management in Singapore and left last month.
Both banks declined to comment.
HSBC APPOINTS GLOBAL FUNDS CHIEF
HSBC Private Bank has appointed Sai Tampi as global head of funds and exchange-traded funds, effective from August 21. He replaces Nitin Singh, who left HSBC in March.
Based in London, Tampi is responsible for the development and distribution of fund and ETF offerings and leads the global fund selection team. He reports to Henry Lee, head of managed investment solutions for global private banking.
Tampi joined from Aberdeen Standard Investments in London, where he was head of business development for global strategic alliances until earlier this month.
He has previously worked for HSBC and Credit Suisse in India in various roles, including head of portfolio management and head of asset management.
Aberdeen Standard has not named a replacement for Tampi, as his previous responsibilities have been spread among other staff members, said a spokesperson.
VANGUARD BULKS UP ACTIVE FUNDS TEAM IN AUSTRALIA
Vanguard has announced that Michael Roach has relocated from the firm’s US headquarters in Pennsylvania, to its trading hub for the Asia-Pacific region in Melbourne, to take on the role of head of quantitative equity group (QEG), Australia.
He has been in Australia since May, when he officially stepped into the newly created role of Australia head of the QEG group, a spokesperson said.
Roach was previously portfolio manager with QEG.
The quantitative equity group (QEG) specialises in quantitative-style active management, which uses modelling and computation to identify opportunities for actively managed portfolios.
The spokesperson said Vanguard launched its first set of established actively managed funds in Australia in February this year.
Also joining the local quantitative management team is assistant portfolio manager Janel Jackson, who was previously the chief of staff for Vanguard’s chief investment officer, Tim Buckley, who has been named as success to current chief executive officer, Bill McNabb, effective January 2018. She will also relocate from the US to Australia.
In addition, the Australian QEG team includes Frank Polanco, who has been a portfolio manager with Vanguard Australia for four years.
Polanco is currently on secondment, where he is embedded in the US-based quantitative equities team.
Roach and Jackson will be supported by QEG’s US-based quantitative research team and a global trading team.
The QEG team has 26 members globally.
Other people news reported on AsianInvestor in the past week: