Weekly roundup of people news, Oct 15
AWARE SUPER APPOINTS DEPUTY CIO, HEAD OF GOVERNANCE
The A$150 billion ($110 billion) Aware Super has appointed Damien Webb as deputy chief investment officer (CIO) and Caroline Saunders as head of investment governance and communications. James Osborn has also been promoted to the position of deputy chief financial officer.
Webb has been with the fund for eight years and was most recently head of income and real assets. He will continue to lead the real assets team, while working with CIO Damian Graham to expand the investment team.
The fund previously revealed to AsianInvestor that it was looking to add at least 70 into its investment team. It also has ambitions to manage more than A$250 billion by 2025.
Aware Super also announced the promotion of Caroline Saunders as head of investment governance and communications. She has been with the fund since 2015 and was most recently senior manager for governance and due diligence.
A spokesperson told AsianInvestor that the appointments are newly created and are currently in effect. Both will continue to be based in Sydney.
He added that Saunders had already been leading a governance and due diligence team and that her new role "reflects a broadening of responsibilities to account for the increasing importance of investment communications as the fund continues to grow."
The fund also announced that James Osborn has been appointed deputy chief financial officer from his previous role as head of finance and procurement. He will report to Tim Elliott, group executive of finance, strategy and transformation.
On top of these appointments, Aware Super is looking to add two more senior positions: head of direct asset oversight and enhancement, and sector head of internal equities.
AUSTRALIANSUPER APPOINTS CHIEF RISK OFFICER, ADDS BOARD MEMBER
Australia's largest superannuation fund has appointed Andrew Mantello as chief risk officer. Mantello has been with the fund for 10 years, starting out as a commercial analyst in 2011, and rising to become head of emergent risks before his recent promotion.
He has been tasked with leading risk management and culture, and ensuring the right structure, practices and culture are put in place for the A$233 billion fund.
Mantello replaces Paul Schroder, who was made chief executive of the fund in July after Ian Silk stepped down from the role after 15 years.
AustralianSuper has been contacted for comment on when the role is made effective, to whom Mantello will report and if he will continue to be based in Melbourne.
The fund also added the president of the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) Michele O'Neil to the board. She replaced Dave Oliver who has been on the board for 14 years. O'Neil has been ACTU president since 2018 and was previously national secretary of the Textile Clothing and Footwear Union of Australia, where she spent 28 years of her career.
FAMILY OFFICE-BACKED ASSEMBLY FUNDS MANAGEMENT APPOINTS HEAD OF CAPITAL
Real estate fund manager Assembly Funds Management, which is backed by the Lowy Family Group, has appointed Pete Wylie as head of capital from Lendlease.
Wylie, who is based in Sydney, joins Assembly from Lendlease where he was employed for a decade and was most recently head of capital for group investments. Before that he was an analyst for four years at Westpac.
He will be responsible for launching new investment products targeted at institutional investors, chief executive Michael Gutman said in a statement.
Assembly Funds Management could not be contacted for comment.
RAFFLES FAMILY OFFICE ADDS TWO NEW ROLES FOR INDEPENDENT ADVISORY BOARD
Bruno Morel and Zann Kwan joined Hong Kong-headquartered Raffles Family Office's independent advisory board to provide external counsel on global client remits and alternative assets, the firm announced on October 11.
Morel joins from VP Bank, where he was Singapore chief executive, while Kwan is the co-founder of Bitcoin Exchange and a former GIC executive under its real estate management function.
Both Morel and Kwan will be based in the Singapore office.
A spokesperson from VP Bank told AsianInvestor that Morel's last day was March 31 and the replacement searching is still ongoing.
Thomas Rupf, head of investment advisory & treasury Asia, is acting interim CEO of VP Bank in Singapore currently.
Raffles Family Office declined to answer queries on the new appointments.
INDUSTRY VETERAN PATRICK SNOWBALL JOINS AMP CAPITAL AS CHAIR
Patrick Snowball, former chief executive at insurer Suncorp, has been appointed chair of AMP Capital’s private markets business. The firm also announced the appointment of Andrew Fay as deputy chair designate of the board. Both positions will be made effective on November 1.
Snowball is known for turning around Suncorp’s business during his reign from 2009 to 2015. His 30-year career spans from being an army tank commander in the UK, to being Aviva UK’s group executive before moving to Australia to take up the Suncorp role.
He will continue to be based in London and is currently also chair of UK-based specialised lender, Provident Financial.
Fay is based in Sydney and also brings 30 years’ experience. He was chief executive and CIO, and later chair of Deutsche Asset Management in Australia. He is currently a non-executive director of Pendal Group and Spark Infrastructure.
Both Snowball and Fay have been tasked with progressing the separation and demerger of AMP’s private markets business.
KKR NAMES KOREAN AMERICAN JOSEPH BAE AS NEW CEO
KKR’s former co-president and co-chief operating officer (COO) Joseph Bae, a Korean American who was the “architect of KKR’s expansion in Asia”, has been named as the new co-chief executive officer (CEO), effective immediately, KKR said on Monday.
Together with Bae, the other co-president and co-COO Scott Nuttall was appointed co-CEO. They are the firm’s second pair of co-CEOs, succeeding co-founders Henry Kravis and George Roberts, who will remain actively involved as executive co-chairs of KKR’s board of directors.
Both Bae and Nuttall joined KKR in 1996 and have served as co-presidents and co-COOs of KKR since July 2017. They have been members of the board ever since.
Bae led KKR’s expansion in Asia to become one of the largest private equity investment managers in the region, the firm noted in the announcement.
AMUNDI APPOINTS NEW SOUTH ASIA CEO
Amundi has appointed Albert Tse as its new South Asia CEO, taking over from Eric Bramoullé, who is appointed as the firm’s head of marketing and products and a member of the Executive Committee.
These appointments take effect from November 1, Amundi announced on Wednesday.
Tse is based in Singapore, and he will report to Vincent Mortier, group deputy chief investment officer and Asia ex-Japan supervisor. As regional CEO, Tse is in charge of developing the business for South Asia markets, which include Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Australia and New Zealand, the firm told AsianInvestor.
Tse was most recently the head of distribution sales and marketing for Amundi in South Asia since 2019. Prior to Amundi, he was with Schroders, where he was head of the intermediary business of Southeast Asia and head of Malaysia & Thailand businesses.
BARCLAYS APPOINTS FORMER DEUTSCHE BANK EXEC AS CEO OF CHINA
Barclays has named Angela Liu as its new chief executive of China. Liu is tasked with strengthening the British lender’s existing cross-border Corporate and Investment Bank (CIB) platform in China and will report to Jaideep Khanna, head of Barclays, Asia Pacific.
Liu will also be leading Barclays’ China growth initiatives across all product lines in Global Markets, Investment Banking and Corporate Banking, in partnership with the bank’s regional heads of the CIB, and will also work with Shanghai branch manager Grace Kuo.
Liu has nearly 20 years of experience in the banking industry. Most recently, she was at Deutsche Bank as its head of institutional client group for China and Hong Kong, where she led client coverage and distribution across its entire product spectrum. Prior to that, she worked at Morgan Stanley for over 17 years where she served as chairman of the board for its mainland China banking unit.
ZICO ASSET MANAGEMENT HIRES GERALD SEE AS HEAD OF ADVISORY
Zico Asset Management appointed Singaporean veteran banker Gerald See as head of advisory on October 1, according to an announcement. He will focus on building Zico's advisor headcount and expanding its external asset management capabilities and its offerings.
Bringing over 14 years of wealth management experience with him to Zico, See was most recently at Standard Chartered Private Bank where he was the senior client partner focusing on ultra-high net worth (UNHW) clients.
See was previously a director at UBS in the global family office and UNHW division. He was also a venture capitalist who focused on both early stages and pre-IPO startups, and is also familiar with UK commercial real estate.
CAPITAL GROUP NAMES HEAD OF HK CLIENT GROUP
Capital Group has appointed Toby Chan to the newly created role of head of Hong Kong client group, effective on Monday and subject to regulatory approvals.
Based in Hong Kong, Chan will be responsible for the firm’s distribution strategy for intermediary and institutional clients in Hong Kong and the Greater Bay Area, as Capital Group expands its products and services in the region.
She will report to Grant Leon, managing director of financial intermediaries for Europe and Asia.
Chan was most recently HSBC’s global head of jade and top tier proposition based in Hong Kong, managing the bank’s affluent and high net worth client segment. In her 15 years with HSBC, she held various senior positions across asset management and wealth management, amongst others.
HSBC did not respond to comment on Chan’s replacement.
GMO HIRES AMY SHANG TO LEAD GREATER CHINA BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT
Investment manager Grantham, Mayo, Van Otterloo (GMO) has appointed Amy Shang to join its Asia Pacific client relations team, where she will lead the firm’s business development efforts in Greater China.
Shang will relocate from Hong Kong to Singapore to take up the position. She was previously an analyst at IBM and Goldman Sachs, and was most recently regional director and head of official institutions for Asia Pacific at Dimensional Fund Advisors, a role she had for eight years in Hong Kong.
Her responsibilities include building the firm’s business in Asia and expanding its solutions and strategies.
The firm has been contacted for more details on the appointment.
This article has been updated with comments by an Aware Super spokesperson.