Deutsche Asset Management in Hong Kong has appointed Stephen Wong as director of sales and client service for its Asia ex-Japan business. Wong will run the firm's retail strategy around the region as well as channel management of global distributors, including in Korea and India, where the firm has local business units.

For Wong the move is a leap from the sell side to the buy side. He has previously worked at Morgan Stanley, most recently as an executive director in ECM.

He now reports to Choy Peng-Wah, CEO of DeAM Asia in Singapore.

DeAM has made building its regional retail business a priority for some time. Sam Hanbury, director of business origination in Hong Kong, had taken on the task of expanding the retail franchise. The firm has been particularly focused on its new local businesses in Korea and India. But Hanbury, originally from the institutional business development side, has returned his focus on that, now that Wong has come in to lead the retail effort.

The firm manages Eur33 billion in the Asia Pacific.