Citi Private Bank switches investment heads
Citi Private Bank has appointed Ken Peng as investment strategist for Asia Pacific based in Hong Kong. He replaces John Woods, who has assumed a newly created role as Asia-Pacific head of fixed income and senior portfolio manager.
Peng was most recently senior China economist for the past two years at BNP Paribas. He now reports to Steven Wieting, global chief investment strategist at Citi Private Bank, and Sohn So-Yon, Asia-Pacific head of investments.
Peng will be responsible for formulating investment views and strategies for Asian markets. He will also join the global investment committee to contribute to asset allocation decisions.
Before BNP Paribas, Peng worked for Citi Investment Research for 11 years. Based in Beijing and Shanghai, he covered China macro investment themes and Asia regional economics. He has also covered the US economy and markets for Citi Investment Research in New York.
Vanguard makes changes to sales team
Index fund specialist Vanguard has made two recent senior promotions.
Charles Lin is now head of distribution for North Asia based in Hong Kong, covering intermediaries and institutions. He was previously managing director for institutional business covering North Asia ex-Japan.
Jackson Loi has been promoted to head of institutional sales for Hong Kong and Taiwan, from director of institutional sales.
Loi joined last year, while Lin has been with Vanguard since 2011, when it began its Asia buildout in earnest.
These were the only recent changes to the firm’s sales team in the region. The aim was “to consolidate our distribution services to our intermediary and institutional clients”, Lin tells AsianInvestor.
CBRE names Asia-Pacific head of research
Property services firm CBRE Group has hired Henry Chin as head of research for Asia Pacific. He will take up the Hong Kong-based role in February.
Chin was most recently Pramerica Real Estate’s head of research and strategy for Asia Pacific and succeeds Nick Axford at CBRE, who was promoted in July to global head of research.
Chin has 10 years’ experience in research and consulting roles. He spent two-and-a-half years at Pramerica, before which he was co-head of real estate for Asia Pacific at Deutsche Bank’s wealth management arm in Hong Kong.
He has also worked as a real estate and infrastructure strategist at an Asian sovereign wealth fund and as alternative investment strategist at RREEF, part of Deutsche Bank.
His appointment followed an extensive search for the right candidate, says Rob Blain, Asia-Pacific CEO and chairman at CBRE.
Barings appoints head of global resources
Baring Asset Management has named Duncan Goodwin as head of global resources in London. He joins from UK asset manager Martin Currie, where he worked for eight years as lead manager on the Global Resources Fund since its launch.
Reporting to head of equities Tim Scholefield, Goodwin will be lead manager on the Baring Global Resources Fund. The product had $564 million in AUM as of October 31, was launched in December 1994 and is available to investors in Hong Kong.
The firm runs more than $1 billion in global resource portfolios, managed by a team of four.
Goodwin has 19 years’ finance and investment experience in the resources industry, which includes stints at Merrill Lynch, Citigroup and Lehman Brothers. He began his career at oil giant Shell.
Sidley Austin takes up new Singapore digs
US law firm Sidley Austin – recently named AsianInvestor’s 2013 legal services provider of the year – will move into its new Singapore office at 6 Battery Road on December 23.
The premises will house its recently expanded team, which now comprises more than 20 lawyers, eight of whom are partners. These include Ho Han Ming and his team, whom Sidley poached from rival Clifford Chance in October.
Ho had spent seven years overseeing the latter’s investment funds practice in the Lion City. His appointment followed Sidley winning a licence to practise Singapore law earlier this year.
Bingham promotes Rogers to partner in HK
US law firm Bingham McCutchen has promoted Charles Rogers to partner in the corporate practice group in Hong Kong.
He advises on public and private cross-border corporate, debt and equity investment, corporate finance, and restructuring transactions. He has particular experience in public and private debt and equity investment deals, M&A and joint ventures.
This comes as Bingham recently elected a total of 10 new partners globally, including Laura Flores in the investment management group in Washington, DC. Her practice focuses on investment company and investment adviser regulatory and compliance-related issues.
Bingham was named in October as AsianInvestor's law firm of the year in Japan, after its poaching of Chris Wells and most of his investment funds team from White & Case earlier in the year.
Other people news reported on AsianInvestor this week:
Ex-Morgan Stanley director ordered to pay $3.1 million
Eastspring names Singapore CEO
