Weekly roundup of people news, Apr 28
Korea's GEPS hires new CIO
South Korea's Government Employees Pension Service (GEPS) has named Lee Chang-hoon as chief investment officer on April 24. He replaces Young-gwon Choi, who recently left after a three-year tenure to become CEO of Seoul-based Hi Asset Managemen on April 1.
Lee will manage the retirement fund's W7.5 trillion ($6.6 billion) for a two-year term, which can be extended by one year.
He ran his own investment advisory firm from 2012 to 2016. Before that he headed Hanwha Asset Management (formerly Prudential Asset Management) as CEO and CIO from 2005 to 2010, said a statement from GEPS.
Lee has also worked for Samsung Investment Trust Management (now Samsung Asset Management), Macquarie-IMM Investment Management and Dongwon Investment Trust Management (now Korea Investment Management).
ICBC Credit Suisse names new index head, senior PM
ICBC Credit Suisse Asset Management International has hired Vincent Chen as head of index and quantitative investment and Ada Yin as a senior portfolio manager on the index team, AsianInvestor can reveal.
Chen started on April 18 to replace Laura Lui, who left the firm in December to become co-chief investment officer at ETF solutions provider Premia Partners in March.
Chen was most recently head of ETF business at China Asset Management (Hong Kong) and left in early April. He had joined the firm in July 2015. ChinaAMC did not respond to requests for comment by press time.
Before moving to ChinaAMC Chen had been in charge of business development and product strategy at Hong Kong fund house Value Partners.
Meanwhile, Yin joined in March, replacing Alex Chu, who left the firm in the same month. Yin was formerly senior portfolio manager for index funds at Hong Kong-based asset manager Enhanced Investment Products, but left in October 2015 and took a year off.
ICBC CSAM international is the Hong Kong arm of Chinese joint-venture fund house ICBC Credit Suisse.
JP Morgan AM loses Southeast Asia specialist
Sarinee Sernsukskul has quit as investment manager on the emerging markets and Asia-Pacific equities team at JP Morgan Asset Management in Singapore, AsianInvestor can reveal. Sarinee was a country specialist covering Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines.
She left the firm in April for personal reasons and has returned to Thailand, said a spokeswoman for JP Morgan. Having joined the firm in 2007, Sarinee had reported to Pauline Ng, head of Asean, emerging market and Asia-Pacific equities.
Chubb Life appoints new HK chief agency officer
Chubb Life has appointed Rhonda Hui as chief agency officer in Hong Kong, effective April 26. She replaces Raymond Ting who left the insurance firm after only joining in September.
Hui reports to Michael Ho, country president of Chubb Life in Hong Kong.
Hui joined from FWD Life Insurance, where she had headed agency training, recruitment and business development for Hong Kong. FWD Life didn’t respond to requests for comment.
Before joining FWD, Hui had worked for Axa, Sun Life and Manulife.
iShares' Asia institutional sales head leaves for Premia Partners
ETF solutions provider Premia Partners has poached Aleksey Mironenko from iShares, BlackRock's exchange-traded funds arm.
He joined Premia in April as chief distribution officer, a newly created role and remains in Hong Kong, said a spokesperson.
Mironenko had been iShares' head of sales for Asia ex-Japan institutions and Asia-Pacific fixed income and departed on March 31.
It is understood that Mironenko's institutional sales responsibilities are being spread across the team, with the new head yet to be decided. His fixed-income role has been taken on by Sean Cunningham, BlackRock's Asia-Pacific head of capital markets for iShares and index investing.
China Merchants Bank started Singapore PB business
Shenzhen-based China Merchants Bank launched a private banking desk in Singapore on April 25. It is understand that the new platform will focus on serving Chinese high-net-worth clients in Singapore.
The bank is not looking to expand its client base to Singaporeans or other foreign nationals, but is keeping its options open for the future, said a source familiar with the firm.
CMB declined to comment.
Hermes names new head of fixed income
London-based Hermes Investment Management has appointed Andrew Jackson as head of fixed income to replace Zoe Shaw, who left the £30.6 billion ($39.5 billion) asset manager in May last year.
In the interim, Eoin Murray, head of investment, oversaw the fixed income desk.
Jackson will lead the development of the credit and direct lending investment teams and work on developing a multi-asset credit offering.
He joins from Cairn Capital, where he was chief investment officer. He has also worked in European credit structuring at Bank of America and has held roles with Fitch Ratings and PwC.
Gibson Dunn & Crutcher poaches quartet from rival
US law firm Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher has poached a team in Hong Kong from rival Ropes & Gray. The four new partners are Paul Boltz, Scott Jalowayski, Michael Nicklin and Brian Schwarzwalder.
They report to Kelly Austin, Gibson Dunn’s partner in charge in Hong Kong. A spokesperson said their start dates were "yet to be announced".
Jalowayski advises private equity firms, their portfolio companies and other asset managers on investment and M&A transactions in Asia.
Schwarzwalder represents private equity firms and other asset managers in transactions across Asia Pacific.
Boltz focuses on capital markets and M&A transactions in Asia and elsewhere.
Nicklin covers debt financing transactions across Asia Pacific.
A spokesperson at Ropes & Gray declined to comment on whether it would replace the four former partners.
The firm's Asian private equity and M&A practices include partners Daniel Yeh, Peng Yu and Jim Lidbury in Hong Kong, Tsuyoshi Imai in Tokyo, Jieni Gu in Shanghai and Lee Jaewoo in Seoul.
Compliance and risk firm Opus opens first Asia branch
Opus, a US-based provider of compliance and risk management services, has opened an office in Singapore, its first in Asia.
Sacheen Williams, director of risk products, will head the office as one of two staff there, the other being solutions architect Lina Mockeliunaite.
The Asian business was previously looked after out of London, said a spokesperson.
Williams was previously based in London but has made multiple extended visits in Singapore since July last year. He reports to Ben Gould, London-based managing director for Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific.
Opus said in a statement it aims to help clients in the region comply with anti-money laundering and anti-bribery and corruption regulations as well as mitigate their third-party risks.
Other people news reported on AsianInvestor in the past week:
More big multi-asset moves highlight fierce demand
Michael Marquardt exits BlackRock, seeks new role
Pictet AM jumps on multi-asset bandwagon in Asia