Weekly roundup of people news, Oct 2
Amundi replaces Asia equity CIO, deputy HK CEO
Anthony Ho will join French fund house Amundi in mid-October as chief investment officer for Asia ex-Japan equities and deputy chief executive for Hong Kong.
He is filling the role vacated by Ayaz Ebrahim, who left to join JP Morgan Asset Management as a senior portfolio manager for emerging-market and Asia-Pacific equities, as reported.
Ho joins from the Hong Kong subsidiary of China International Fund Management (CIFM), where he had been CEO since 2014. Shanghai-based CIFM is a joint venture between JP Morgan Asset Management and Shanghai International Trust.
Gerald Yeung will replace Ho at CIFM, having joined from independent wealth manager Cypress Capital Hong Kong, where he was managing partner and chief operating officer. Prior to that, he worked at JP Morgan Asset Management in Hong Kong and Taiwan in various roles including chief administrative officer and head of China strategy and liaison.
At Amundi, Ho will manage a team of 23 Asia ex-Japan equity investment professionals in Asia, 15 of which are based in Hong Kong. He will report to North Asia CEO Zhong Xiaofeng and Romain Boscher, global head of equities.
Prior to CIFM, Ho was managing director at JP Morgan Asset Management from 2012. He has also worked for China Asset Management and Fidelity Worldwide Investment, having started his career at Arthur Andersen in 1988.
Manulife AM Taiwan names new CEO and CIO
Manulife Asset Management Taiwan has named Jim Chang as chief executive and Karen Chang as chief investment officer, effective from October 1.
Thomas Cheong was previously CEO until he left in January to join US financial services firm Principal International, part of Principal Financial Group, as head of North Asia.
Andrew Wang had served as CIO since 2008 and is now moving to another role within the firm, details of which will be announced in due course.
Jim Chang has 26 years of experience in the asset management industry. Prior to joining Manulife, he was CEO of Deutsche Far Eastern Asset Management in Taipei. He has also worked in Taiwan for PineBridge Investments, PCA Securities Investment Trust, Standard Chartered Bank and Grand Pacific Securities Invesment Trust (now Invesco Taiwan).
Thomas Hu, Asia-Pacific ex-Japan head of global client group for Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management, will take up additional responsibility for overall management of Deutsche Far Eastern. Chief operating officer Jenny Liu has taken on the additional role of deputy CEO.
Karen Chang has returned to Manulife AM, having been head of Taiwan equity investment from 2009 to 2014. The firm did not comment on what she has been doing since then. Prior to that role, she held senior investment posts with several fund management firms.
StanChart hires Taiwan private banking chief
Standard Chartered has hired Vicky Lin from Morgan Stanley as Taiwan head of private banking. The role was created with a view to expanding the private bank business in Greater China and North Asia.
Based in Hong Kong, Lin reports to Desmond Liu, head of private banking for Greater China and North Asia. She started in the post on September 4.
Lin was previously executive director for private wealth management for Taiwan and Greater China at Morgan Stanley, which declined to comment on her departure.
UBS names head for new Kowloon office
UBS Wealth Management has named Adeline Chien as head of its new Kowloon office in Hong Kong and plans to boost its relationship manager headcount to 60 there, reports Asian Private Banker. UBS has confirmed the details of the story are accurate.
Chien will be responsible for formulating business strategy, implementing the business plan and overseeing day-to-day operations of the office, which is expected to open in the first quarter of 2016.
She had rejoined UBS WM in 2014 as country team head, after leaving the Swiss bank to work at other firms including EFG and Barclays. She first worked for UBS from 1995 to 2004 as an executive director, then rejoined from 2008 to 2010 as a managing director, before returning again last year.
Jean-Claude Humair, Hong Kong market manager at UBS WM, said: “We plan to move 20-25 RMs from the Hong Kong-side office and add 40 RMs to target a total of 60-65 RMs in total sitting in our Kowloon office.”
Due to the location of the new office, the hiring will naturally lend itself to those with a strong connection to Kowloon entrepreneurs and mainland China, Chien added.
The Kowloon office – 23,000 square feet over two floors at One Peking Road – will also be the testing ground for UBS’s pilot retirement planning programme.
Chinese fund house sets up EAM desk
Shenzhen-based boutique Munsun Asset Management has hired Helen Van Meerbeek as managing partner for external asset management, reports FundSelectorAsia.
She joined in July to build a business servicing private clients, as the firm sees Chinese individuals and families looking to diversify their international exposure.
Van Meerbeek previously worked at structured products platform Leonteq Securities in Hong Kong, where she was responsible for business development and distribution of investment products to financial institutions throughout Asia. She started her career in the dealing room of Fortis Bank in Europe – later BNP Paribas Fortis – covering European institutional clients.
Set up in 2003, Munsun is now looking is to offer an independent one-stop shop and advisory network in addition to its $2 billion funds business. While the 40-headcount firm runs its own products – the flagship being a Greater China long/short equity strategy – the EAM team can recommend and select external managers.
Liquidnet lures quant specialist from BNP Paribas
Institutional trading network Liquidnet has hired Tony Cheung as Asia-Pacific head of quantitative analytics. He will focus on providing Liquidnet’s buy-side users with insight and analysis on their trades.
Liquidnet did not respond to a request for comment about who had looked after this area previously.
Based in Hong Kong, Cheung will report to Lee Porter, head of Asia Pacific, and to Akis Georgiou, head of quantitative sales and analytics based in New York.
Cheung joined on September 2 from BNP Paribas in Hong Kong, where he was head of product management for electronic trading. BNP Paribas declined to comment on his departure.
Prior to that, he worked at Royal Bank of Canada in New York designing and deploying algorithms and analytical tools. He has also held positions at CIBC and IBM.
State Street names Korea head
Asset management and asset servicing group State Street has appointed Young Kyu Rim as Korea head of global markets and global services. Based in Seoul, she will oversee operations, governance, strategy, business development and client relationships for the Korea branch.
Rim replaces Bill Park, who had been with the firm since February 2004 and left in June, according to his LinkedIn page. AsianInvestor could not ascertain what he is doing now.
She has a dual reporting line to Ian Martin, Asia-Pacific head of global markets and global exchange, and Andrew Erickson, Asia-Pacific head global services, both of whom are based in Hong Kong.
Prior to joining State Street, Rim worked at Bank of Nova Scotia for 28 years, where she was most recently country head of Korea. Bank of Nova Scotia could not be reached for comment by press time.
Other people moves reported this week on AsianInvestor.net: