PINEBRIDGE PICKS FORMER AMP CAPITAL EXEC AS ASIA CEO

PineBridge Investments, a global asset manager with $89.6 billion in assets under management, has named Anthony Fasso as new chief executive officer of Asia, effective March 11.

Anthony Fasso

Based in Hong Kong, Fasso will report to PineBridge chief executive officer Greg Ehret, who is based in New York.

Most recently, Fasso served as CEO of AMP Capital Investors’ international business and head of the firm’s global clients division, also based in Hong Kong. He left AMP in 2017, and was replaced by Craig Keary, an AMP spokeswoman told AsianInvestor.

Fasso has also previously worked for Axa Rosenberg Asia Pacific and Axa Investment Managers.

AsianInvestor understands that Fasso has been acting as a consultant for a private equity company in Hong Kong in recent months.

At Pinebridge Fasso replaces Rajeev Mittal, who left the company in December 2018 to become Asia Pacific ex-Japan managing director at Fidelity International.

EDWINA HO JOINS WILLIS TOWERS WATSON 

Edwina Ho was named investment director for the investments business in Asia for Willis Towers Watson, the London-based advisory firm. Based in Hong Kong, Ho will focus on the firm’s institutional clients across the Greater China market.

The role is newly created and reflects the growth of the investment business in Asia, which helps clients manage investment complexity and works with them to better align strategy and portfolio construction to balance risk and return, a media statement said.

Before joining Willis Towers Watson, Ho was head of Baltimore-based investment management company Legg Mason’s institutional business for Hong Kong and China. Here, she worked with sovereign wealth funds, pension funds, insurance companies, family offices and asset and wealth managers.

She left Legg Mason in September last year, a spokeswoman told AsianInvestor but did not respond to a query on whether she had been replaced.

Prior to Legg Mason, Ho worked for Hong Kong-based financial services company China Everbright as head of institutional sales. She has also held senior positions at major global banks and consultancies, including Macquarie, Goldman Sachs and McKinsey.

SUN LIFE'S CFO GAINS EXPANDED ROLE 

Sun Life’s chief financial officer Karim Gilani is assuming an expanded role, starting March 1.

Karim Gilani

In addition to his CFO role, Gilani will also become Asia head of strategic integration. He will be responsible for oversight and integration of the core regional functions, including finance, risk, asset-liability management, legal, investments and others.

Gilani will remain based in Sun Life’s Asia regional office in Hong Kong and continues to report to Claude Accum, president of Sun Life Asia Financial, who is also based in Hong Kong, according to a company spokeswoman.

Thibaut Ferret, previously Hong Kong-based head of asset liability management, joined Aberdeen Standard Investments as senior solutions director for Asia Pacific in November last year. The spokeswoman said Sun Life continues to seek a replacement for him.

BOUWINVEST OPENS FIRST APAC OFFICE, NAMES DIRECTOR

Bouwinvest Real Estate Investors, the Dutch institutional manager, opened an office in Sydney, Australia this week – its first outside the Netherlands.

Bouwinvest’s Apac director, Tjarko Edzes, has moved to Sydney to carry out the strategy to reach €1.5 billion ($1.7 billion) of invested capital throughout Asia-Pacific by 2021. Bouwinvest did not immediately respond to an AsianInvestor query on where Edzes was previously based.

Australia is currently the Dutch institutional manager’s largest market in the region by asset value and it will be the base for enhanced deal sourcing, improved monitoring of onsite operating partners and boosting market networks, Edzes said in a media statement.

Edzes joined Bouwinvest in 2014 and has 22 years' experience in real estate investment.

Also in the press statement, Stephen Tross, Bouwinvest chief investment officer for international investments, said Bouwinvest is working towards a balanced and diversified global real estate portfolio. It aims to ensure 40% of total assets under management are invested in international assets, with the other 60% in domestic funds in the Netherlands.

Last year, Bouwinvest completed just under €300 million in transactions in Asia Pacific, while its total international deal volume reached €900 million. Bouwinvest Real Estate Investors invests in real estate on behalf of Dutch institutional investors, mainly pension funds for the construction industry.

According to the statement, Bouwinvest plans to open a second international office in New York for North American markets later this year.

Bouwinvest Real Estate Investors has €11.3 billion in invested capital globally. Its ambition is to grow total assets under management to about €15 billion by 2021.

MERCER REPLACES CHINA WEALTH BUSINESS LEADER

Leo Shen has joined Mercer as its China wealth business leader, effective February 11.

Based in Shanghai, Shen joins form Rongtong Global Investment, where he was the deputy CEO, a spokeswoman for Mercer told AsianInvestor. He has 20 years of experience in the financial sector, previously holding senior positions at both Chinese and western firms, including Morgan Stanley and Manulife. 

He replaces Ying Tan, who left on January 25.

Rongtong Global Investment did not respond to AsianInvestor queries on when Shen stepped down or if a replacement has been named.

MSCI APPOINTS HEAD OF SOUTH ASIA CLIENT COVERAGE

MSCI has appointed Lim Beng Eu as Singapore-based head of South Asia client coverage.

Lim Beng Eu

Lim is responsible for strengthening the global index and data provider’s presence in South Asia while also enhancing coverage of leading asset owners and other clients. He reports to Jack Lin, Hong Kong-based head of Asia Pacific client coverage.

This is a new role covering Singapore, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and Philippines, said a company spokeswoman. She did not say how these markets were covered before Lim joined.

Lim joined MSCI from Bento Invest, a Singapore-based B2B robo-advisor and digital wealth technology provider, where he served as the head of institutional client engagement. 

AsianInvestor could not contact Bento Invest to find out more about Lim's previous role.

HKMA CHIEF EXECUTIVE TO STEP DOWN

Norman Chan, chief executive of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA), will retire from his post on October 1, after being in charge of the de-facto central bank for 10 years.

Norman Chan

Financial Secretary Paul Chan is chairing a selection panel to identify the next CEO, the Hong Kong government announced on February 21.

It did not specify when the selection process will be completed.

SCHRODERS NAMES FIRST GLOBAL HEAD OF PRIVATE ASSETS

Schroders has appointed Georg Wunderlin as its first global head of private assets, effective in May.

Wunderlin takes up the newly-created role in May and will be based in London and Frankfurt. He will focus on developing and executing Schroders’ private assets growth strategy on a global scale, and reports to London-based group chief executive Peter Harrison.

Wunderlin was most recently the chief executive of alternatives manager HQ Capital and was based in Frankfurt and New York, according to his LinkedIn profile. HQ Capital did not reply to AsianInvestor’s query about his exit.

FORMER HKMA CIO TO ACT AS ADVISER FOR XEN

Xen, a technology platform that tokenises alternative investments, has appointed Yong Hak Huh as adviser, effective January 1.

Yong Hak Huh

Yong is also CEO of First Bridge Strategy since January 2015, according to his Linkedin profile. He was formerly the head of direct investment at the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA), but resigned on 23 July 2014 for personal reasons, an HKMA spokeswoman told AsianInvestor.

Yong’s role at Xen was newly created to support the company’s development and connect investors with proprietary opportunities, a media statement said.

Based in Hong Kong, Yong works with Katrina Cokeng, co-founder and CEO, as well as Manish Sansi, co-founder and chief operating officer. Cokeng and Sansi are both based in Singapore.

Kathy Wong, who joined HKMA in June 2012, according to her Linkedin page, is the current head of private equity and direct investment at the HKMA, according to an organisation chart of the de-facto central bank.

*This story has been updated with a more accurate descripton of Xen

DEUTSCHE APPOINTS GREATER CHINA SECURITIES SERVICES HEAD

Deutsche Bank has named Tony W. Chao as Greater China head of securities services based in Shanghai, effective February 20.

This is a newly created role which comes as a result of the bank’s strategy to broaden its Greater China franchise, a media statement said.

Chao will report to Singapore-based Anand Rengarajan, Asia Pacific head of securities services and to Shanghai-based Dirk Lubig, head of global transaction banking for China locally.

Chao was previously with Standard Chartered Bank in China as head of securities services for investors and intermediaries, also based in Shanghai. The bank is in the process of hiring his successor but in the interim it has appointed Rick Hu as acting head of securities services, a bank spokeswoman told AsianInvestor.

UBS NAMED NEW SINGAPORE HEAD

UBS has appointed August Hatecke as country head in Singapore, effective February 19.

Based in Singapore, Hatecke reports to Edmund Koh, president of Asia Pacific and a member of the UBS Group executive board, who is also based in the city-state.

August Hatecke

 

Hatecke will continue the role as co-head of wealth management for Asia Pacific, which he took up on January 1, a UBS spokeswoman told AsianInvestor.

As co-head of wealth management for Asia Pacific, Hatecke reports to Martin Blessing and Tom Naratil, co-presidents of UBS global wealth management, who are based in Switzerland and the US respectively, the spokeswoman said.

Hatecke succeeded Koh for the role of country head, while Koh was appointed as president for Asia Pacific at the beginning of 2019.

In his new role, Hatecke's task will be to drive business strategy in Singapore and overseeing governance and risks. He also chairs the Singapore management committee.

Hatecke is a 19-year veteran at the Swiss investment bank and was previously based in Zurich. He relocated to Singapore in 2016 as head wealth management for Southeast Asia.

BRUNO SCHRODER PASSES AWAY

Bruno Schroder, the great-great-grandson of John Henry Schroder, who co-founded UK firm Schroders in 1804, died on February 20 at the age of 86.

He was serving as non-executive director of the fund manager since 1963. Schroder joined the firm’s internal audit division in 1960 and became the Schroder family representative on the board three years later.

Schroder was considered to be replaced by his daughter, Leonie Fane, The Times reported in August 2018.

The Schroder and Mallinckrodt families own 47.9% of Schroders.

Schroders was initially founded as a merchant bank and became a fund management firm after its investment banking division was sold to Citigroup in 2000. It now has $590 billion under management globally. 

Article updated to reflect that Rick Hu is interim head of securities services for Standard Chartered.