Weekly roundup of people news, April 24
FIDELITY SHUFFLES RESEARCH AND MULTI-ASSET HEADS
Fidelity International has relocated Henk-Jan Rikkerink, formerly head of equities for global research and systematic, to London from Hong Kong to become global head of solutions and multi-asset.
Ned Salter, who joined Fidelity in London in 2014 as a director of research, will relocate to Hong Kong as head of equities for global research and Asia ex Japan, according to fund research house Morningstar.
A spokeswoman declined to confirm this, saying that Fidelity had appointed Rikkerink's successor internally and would make an announcement in due course.
James Bateman, the former chief investment officer for multi-asset in London, left last year to set up his own boutique, New Value Investment.
Rikkerink reports to Andrew McCaffery, London-based global CIO for asset management.
JP MORGAN AM APPOINTS NEW SOUTHEAST ASIA HEAD
Sherene Ban has been named as the new head of Singapore and Southeast Asia for JP Morgan Asset Management.
The move marks a return home for Ban, a native Singaporean. She is relocating back to Singapore from JP Morgan AM’s London office to fill the role left vacant after Steven Billiet left in late February.
In her new role, Ban reports to Dan Watkins, chief executive for Asia Pacific.
Ban had previously been the head of JP Morgan AM’s global beta investment specialist team, which is part of the global asset management solutions team. She had been based there for four years.
Ban previously worked in several roles in Emea and Asia for JP Morgan AM across 11 years. This included co-heading the firm’s investment specialist team for emerging markets and Asia Pacific equities.
Before joining JP Morgan AM in 2005, Ban was a portfolio manager for Asia Pacific equities for six years at GIC, Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund.
AIA APPOINTS NEW SINGAPORE CEO
AIA appointed Wong Sze Keed as its new Singapore chief executive, replacing Patrick Teow, who is leaving after seven years heading the insurer’s office on June 30. She starts on July 1.
A spokeswoman said Wong would continue to head distribution during the transition period, and that AIA was searching for a successor.
Wong was previously the chief distribution officer of AIA’s Singapore operations, helping the insurer build its agency business. In her new role, she reports to Tan Hak Leh, the regional CEO of AIA.
Wong joined AIA in 2013 and has more than 27 years working in various roles in Singapore’s financial services industry, in several senior management roles. The spokeswoman said she was chosen to succeed Teow after building out its distribution business and helping to set up proprietary financial adviser firm AIA Financial Advisers in 2017.
A spokeswoman responded to questions on whether Teow had voluntarily resigned by noting that the transition had been planned “and discussions kickstarted a few months prior to the Covid-19 pandemic”.
Teow had worked for some seven years at AIA and has 35 years’ experience in the industry. Last year AIA Singapore it reported a 6% increase on operating profit after tax to $583 million.
ROBECO’S HK WHOLESALE HEAD EXITS
Philip Fok has left his role as head of Hong Kong wholesale distribution at Robeco, and the Dutch fund house is in the process of hiring a replacement, a spokesman told AsianInvestor.
Fok’s regulatory licence with the firm ended on April 14, according to Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission records.
He did not respond to a request for comment sent via LinkedIn.
CLSA HIRES VANGUARD'S FORMER ASIA CEO
Hong Kong-based equity brokerage CLSA has appointed Charles Lin as vice chairman, effective April 20.
Prior to joining CLSA, part of China's Citic Securities, Lin was Hong Kong-based Asia chief executive of US funds giant Vanguard.
He left the role late last year, and Axel Lomholt, head of portfolio review for Asia, is serving as regional head in the interim while Vanguard seeks a replacement.
CLSA declined to comment on Lin's reporting line or on whom he had replaced.
GAO CAPITAL HIRES HEAD OF EQUITIES
Singapore-based Gao Capital has named Kenneth Yap as head of equities to run the newly established Gao ASV Asia Fund, effective March 1.
Based in Kuala Lumpur, Yap said his role had been created to manage the fund in response to investor demand for a value-focused equity solution offering. He reports to chief executive Chauwei Yak and partner Ted Low.
Yap joined from KAF Fund Management, where he was manager of the KAF Asia Equities Fund. He left the firm on February 10. The firm declined to comment on his departure.
INTEREST IN REMOTE WORKING AND VC SURGES AMID PANDEMIC
There has been a huge surge in interest in remote working, video conferencing and other technology trends globally as a result of the Covid-19 outbreak, found research by communications agency ClearStory International.
In Hong Kong, for instance, interest in remote working increased by 10,600% and in video conferencing by 4,733% between December 2019 and the last week of March 2020. The global increases were 14,000% for remote working and 17,500% for video calling.
The report had analysed articles across the media that featured mentions of these and other tech trends.
STANCHART PB APPOINTS HK DEPUTY MARKET HEAD
Standard Chartered has named Chiu Wai-Man as Hong Kong deputy market head of private banking, effective April 1.
She reports to Michael Yong, Hong Kong market head for private banking, the firm’s spokeswoman said.
It is understood that Chiu will build and lead a new team. This is part of a plan to hire around 30 to 40 executives for the private banking business globally this year.
She joined from UBS, where she was managing director and head of the Hong Kong country team. AsianInvestor understands that she has not been directly replaced following a restructuring of the Swiss firm's wealth management arm in January.
UBP HIRES TRIO OF RELATIONSHIP MANAGERS
Union Bancaire Privee (UBP), the Swiss private bank, brought in three new relationship managers to bolster its regional operations.
Flora Kam joined as a senior relationship manager on on April 14. She had previously worked at Credit Suisse, UBS, and JP Morgan in Hong Kong. UBP said in a statement that she had “extensive experience servicing UHNW clients across the Greater China region”.
In addition, Ula Ju and Mary Cheung were also as senior relationship managers, from BNP Paribas Wealth Management and Credit Suisse, respectively. Ju had previously been a director on BNPP WM’s Greater China team. Meanwhile Cheung had been a managing director for relationship management.
A spokeswoman for UBP declined to comment on the appointments, directing AsianInvestor only to the press release announcing Kam’s hire. She also declined to answer whether Kam had taken up a new role.
Spokeswomen at Credit Suisse and BNP respectively declined to comment on the departure of Kam and Cheung from the former and Ju from the latter, and whether the banks would fill the vacant positions.
S&P GLOBAL ESG UNIT ADDS SALES DUO IN APAC
Trucost, a provider of environment, social and governance (ESG) data and analytics, this month added two sales executives in Asia, including its first head of Asia Pacific ESG business development.
The firm, part of index and rating group S&P Global, appointed Michael Salvatico to the latter role, based in Sydney. He was previously an executive director on the ESG research division at index provider MSCI.
MSCI did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.
Vivian Wendan Zheng joins in Singapore as a senior ESG business development manager for the Asean region. She was previously a senior manager at Singapore-based non-government organisation Global Initiatives. Before that she worked on the sustainability team at consultancy KPMG.
Global Initiatives did not respond to an emailed request for comment.
A spokeswoman for Trucost said Salvatico and Zheng had taken up newly created roles, but declined to elaborate further.
EVESTMENT ADDS SALESMAN IN AUSTRALIA
eVestment, an institutional investment data and analytics provider, has hired Daman Grewal as a business development manager to bring its sales and client support team in Sydney up to four.
He joined at the end of January from fund house Wellington Management, where he worked in institutional client and consultant relations. He has also worked at Colonial First State Global Asset Management.
Now reporting to William Tang, Asia Pacific head of sales based in Hong, Grewal will focus on growing eVestment’s client base of Australia- and New Zealand-based asset managers, investors and investment consultants.
HSBC PB’S MARKET HEAD FOR SINGAPORE AND MALAYSIA EXITS
Chow Shang-Wei resigned from his role as Singapore and Malaysia market head at HSBC Private Banking in the week commencing April 13, he said on his LinkedIn profile.
An HSBC spokesperson was quoted as saying the bank would be replacing Chow, but declined to confirm that to AsianInvestor.
Chow had joined the firm in November 2016 as Singapore market head, before his role expanded. Before that, he spent 12 years at UBS Wealth Management in Singapore.
BANK OF EAST ASIA'S WEALTH HEAD RESIGNS
Henry Pang has resigned from his post as head of wealth management at Hong Kong-based Bank of East Asia after just three months with the firm. BEA said it was in the process of recruiting a successor.
Pang had joined in late 2019 to succeed Grace Chow. He had previously spent 16 years at BNP Paribas in roles including, most recently, Taiwan head of wealth management and also Asia ex-Japan head of equities and derivatives.
Other people news reported by AsianInvestor in the past week: