Weekly roundup of people news, August 20
OMGI chief resigns
Old Mutual Global Investors’ (OMGI) chief executive Julian Ide has resigned. It comes as the asset manager’s parent company reorganises its investment business.
OMGI parent company Old Mutual Wealth has created an investment division under the leadership of Martin Baines, who steps up from CEO of asset manager Quilter Cheviot to become chief investment director of Old Mutual Wealth.
London-based star fund manager Richard Buxton has been appointed CEO of OMGI, while David Loudon has been made CEO of Quilter Cheviot. Buxton will continue to manage his UK equities portfolio.
It was unclear where Ide was moving to, but in a statement on August 12 he said he would “explore new opportunities”.
Old Mutual said in a statement that the reorganisation would allow it “to more effectively leverage the combined investment knowledge of Quilter Cheviot and OMGI… particularly in the multi asset areas”.
In April this year, Ide told AsianInvestor that OMGI was on a hiring drive in Asia, and he was looking to recruit star managers for its growing regional team.
He said the higher headcount was designed to support the firm’s upcoming expansion of its Asia product range and its bid to deepen distribution among its retail and institutional clients.
Ide joined OMGI as CEO in October 2011, having been hired from BBVA Asset Management, where he had worked as head of institutional business since July 2010. Previously he was distribution COO at Credit Suisse Asset Management between September 2007-December 2009. Prior to that he worked at ABN Amro Asset Management between 2003-2007, and Merrill Lynch Mercury between September 1993-December 2001.
Baines has worked at Quilter since 1998 and previously served as head of onshore branches, with specific responsibility for building the UK branch network. Following the purchase of Quilter by Morgan Stanley in 2001, Baines became a managing director of Morgan Stanley in 2002 and CEO of Quilter in 2003.
Buxton joined OMGI as head of UK equities in June 2013. He was previously head of UK equities at Schroders, where he managed the Schroders UK Alpha Plus Fund for more than 10 years. Prior to Schroders he spent more than a decade at Baring Asset Management, and started his investment career in 1985 at Brown Shipley Asset Management.
In May 2015 Loudon was appointed head of investment management at Quilter Cheviot Investment Management. Prior to that Loudon was head of the regional offices and in 2014 he took over responsibility for the firm’s offshore office in Jersey.
ANZ loses mutual funds head
ANZ Wealth Asia’s head of mutual funds has resigned, the wealth management firm has confirmed. Singapore-based Ceri Ng has stepped down after joining in November 2014.
Before ANZ, Ng was a senior research analyst at wealth management advisory firm Perpetual Private in Sydney from March 2010 to October 2014, according to her LinkedIn profile. Prior to that, Ng worked as an investment research analyst at DFS Advisory Services in Melbourne between June 2003-January 2010.
In February Singapore-based head of private banking Manfred Liechti left ANZ after the Australian bank merged its wealth and private banking units in Asia.
CVC appoints Korea chairman
Private equity firm CVC Capital Partners has hired Steve Lim from JP Morgan to be its chairman in Korea.
Lim will be based in Seoul. Prior to joining CVC, Lim was the chief executive and managing director of JP Morgan in Korea.
A JP Morgan spokeswoman confirmed that Lim was leaving the US investment bank after a handover period. He has been replaced by Tae Jin Park as senior country officer and head of investment banking for Korea.
Korea has been an active and competitive buyout market with sizeable deals hitting the market. Last year the value of PE investments in Korea climbed to $8.72 billion from $6.68 billion in 2013, according to data provider Dealogic. Most sales have been sold via auctions at steep earnings multiples.
Mid-last year CVC closed its fourth Asia fund at $3.5 billion, CVC Capital Partners Asia Pacific IV LP, for deals across Greater China, Korea, Japan and Southeast Asia.
Prior to JP Morgan Lim worked in the investment banking division of Salomon Brothers in Seoul, Tokyo and New York. He also worked at Kidder Peabody and Procter & Gamble in the US.
Nomura hires trust business head
Investment bank Nomura has appointed Harry Ng as head of Nomura Trust Company (Singapore) and head of wealth planning strategy and solutions for Asia ex-Japan. It is understood he joined on August 17 in what is believed to be a newly-created role.
Ng will report to Nobuhiro Sano, head of wealth management for Asia ex-Japan.
A Nomura spokesman said that Ng’s role was an expanded one, with the wealth planning strategy and solutions role added to his responsibilities.
Ng was hired from Julius Baer in Singapore where he was North Asia head of wealth planning from January 2014. It is understood that Ng's responsibilities have been taken up by Kevin Tay, Julius Baer's Asia head of tax & wealth planning.
Previously Ng worked at Merrill Lynch’s wealth management unit in Singapore as Asia-Pacific wealth planning team head just prior to the division’s acquisition by Julius Baer. Julius Baer did not immediately respond to enquiries on Ng’s replacement.
In January this year Nomura hired Singapore-based Amanda Chen as deputy head of the wealth management division for Asia ex-Japan. Chen came from Morgan Stanley Private Wealth Management where she was head of the strategic transaction group.
HK market misconduct tribunal names new chairman
The Hong Kong government has appointed Garry Tallentire as one of the chairmen of the Market Misconduct Tribunal (MMT) and the Securities and Futures Appeals Tribunal (SFAT). Tallentire, a high court judge, will serve a three-year term from August 14, 2015, to August 13, 2018.
Tallentire replaces outgoing chairman Mr Justice Azizul Rahman Suffiad.
The MMT deals with six types of market misconduct: insider dealing, false trading, price rigging, disclosure of information about prohibited transactions, disclosure of false or misleading information inducing transactions, and stock market manipulation. The MMT is also empowered to deal with breaches of disclosure requirements on price-sensitive information of listed corporations.
The SFAT reviews decisions made under the Securities and Futures Ordinance by the Securities and Futures Commission, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority and an investor compensation company recognised by the SFC.
EY appoints forensic experts
Consultancy EY has appointed Miang Lee and Chi Chen as partners in EY’s fraud investigation & dispute services (FIDS) practice in Hong Kong and Shanghai respectively. Lee will oversee EY’s fraud & investigations projects in Hong Kong and southern China, while Chen will be forensic technology & discovery services partner in Shanghai.
Lee reports to Emmanuel Vignal, Greater China leader of FIDS, while Chen reports to Eric Young, Greater China leader of Forensic Technology & Discovery Services.
Chen has worked at EY since September 2011, while Lee joined in May 2014.
Other people news reported by AsianInvestor over the past week:
Hermes unveils hire in drive for Asia growth
StanChart hires senior banker for UHNW business
Deutsche sets its sights on HNWIs, retail distribution
Thai Life lays out allocation revamp