EPF NAMES NEW CIO AND STRATEGY HEAD
Malaysia’s Employees Provident Fund (EPF) has appointed Rohaya Yusof as chief investment officer, and Nurhisham Hussein as chief strategy officer, according to a media release. The two will help oversee the pension fund's investment assets, which stood at RM859.99 billion ($210.54 billion) as of the end of the first quarter last year.
Yusof, who was previously head of capital markets, replaces Nasir Latif, who was EPF's deputy chief executive for investment. He left the state retirement fund on December 31, after having served an extended term from November 2018. Yusof reports to Alizakri Alias, who was promoted to chief executive of EPF in August 2018.
Hussein fills the shoes left empty after Alizakri was promoted to chief executive. Before his promotion, Hussein was the head of the economics and capital markets department. He also reports to Alizakri.
EPF did not answer queries from AsianInvestor about who will fill the old positions of Yusof and Hussein.
INVESCO NAMES SENIOR PM FOR A-SHARES QUANT INVESTMENT
Invesco has hired Andrew Tong as senior portfolio manager for China A-shares quantitative investment in Hong Kong. He joined this month, according to his LinkedIn profile.
The US fund house declined to comment on the precise date he started, his reporting line or on whether he has replaced anyone.
Tong had been Hong Kong-based head of Greater China consulting at index provider MSCI until December. MSCI confirmed his departure but declined to comment on whether it would replace him.
ABERDEEN STANDARD'S SAM CLOTHIER JOINS TRANSASIA CAPITAL
Aberdeen Standard Investments’ investment director for private markets, Sam Clothier, left the firm at the end of last year, AsianInvestor understands.
Clothier has joined TransAsia Private Capital as director for investment management, according to a person familiar with the matter. He started at the private debt investment specialist firm on January 6 with a focus on client engagement, and is based in Hong Kong. The person declined to comment on whom Clothier had replaced.
An Aberdeen Standard spokeswoman said Clothier’s responsibilities, which include private market sales, had been absorbed by the regional distribution team.
VANGUARD'S HEAD OF ASIA DEPARTS
Charles Lin left US fund manager Vanguard at the end of 2019 after a year as head of its Asia business.
Lin was appointed head of Asia in November 2018 in addition to his previous role as managing director for China. Axel Lomholt, currently head of portfolio review for Asia, will serve as regional head in the interim while Vanguard seeks a replacement, a spokeswoman said.
That double role changed when Yan Pu became head of Vanguard’s investment management group in China in November 2019. Lomholt then took over Pu’s job as head of portfolio review for Asia.
Lin had spent eight years at Vanguard on the China team, after previously working for Itau Securities and Deutsche Asset Management. He did not respond to AsianInvestor’s inquiries, sent via LinkedIn, about his future plans.
VANGUARD’S CHINA PORTFOLIO REVIEW HEAD SWITCHES TO ANT FINANCIAL JV
Vanguard saw another personnel shift with Freddie Chen, its China head of portfolio review, moving to the US fund house's joint venture with Chinese tech firm Ant Financial on December 26.
The JV, Xianfeng Linghang Tougu (Shanghai) Investment Consultancy Company, will benefit from Vanguard’s research experience and investment models, said a spokeswoman.
"Freddie is the right person to bring Vanguard’s know-how to this partnership," she added, declining to comment on who will be Chen's successor or take over his responsibilities as Vanguard's China head of portfolio review.
Chen had been Vanguard's China head of portfolio review since December 2017. Before that he worked at China Asset Management and Deutsche Asset Management.
ABERDEEN STANDARD HIRES NEW GLOBAL HEAD OF INSURANCE
Aberdeen Standard Investments (ASI) has named Aileen Mathieson as global head of insurance to replace Stephen Acheson, who retired at the end of December.
Mathieson had joined the UK fund house in London as global head of strategic platform investment solutions in April last year from Zurich Insurance, where she was chief investment officer and head of wealth management for the UK.
Before joining Zurich in November 2014 Mathieson was chief financial officer at wrap platform business Nucleus Financial Group and then chief operating officer at Standard Life Savings, before Standard Life merged with Aberdeen Asset Management in August 2017.
The retiring Acheson had overseen insurance client coverage at ASI since the merger. Before that he had held a variety posts at Standard Life Investments, most recently as executive director on the board of Standard Life Investments with responsibility for insurance clients.
Acheson had also worked on the fund management side at the firm, including as head of the Japan equity desk.
T. ROWE PRICE GETS ASIA CONSULTANT RELATIONS HEAD
US asset manager T. Rowe Price has appointed Ashlesha Vaishampayan to the newly created role of Asia head of consultant relations in Singapore, effective December 2.
Vaishampayan has taken on the responsibilities from Nick Slater, London-based head of consultant relations for Europe the Middle East and Africa and for Asia-Pacific, to whom she reports, a spokeswoman said.
Before moving to Singapore, Vaishampayan spent five months working in London with Slater.
Her arrival follows that of Cassandra Crowe, who joined in October as head of consultant relations for Australia and New Zealand.
Before joining T. Rowe Price in June 2019, Vaishampayan worked in consultant relations at Russell Investments in London and before that had a role on the sales team at Schroders.
Russell Investments did not respond to requests as to who has taken over Vaishampayan's responsibilities.
PGIM NAMES CHINA HEAD FOR INSTITUTIONAL RELATIONS
PGIM, the asset management arm of US life insurer Prudential Financial, has hired Sun Hao as Shanghai-based head of its institutional relationship group (IRG) for China.
Sun joined PGIM on January 6 and reports to Philip Hsin, Singapore-based head of institutional relations for Asia Pacific ex-Japan.
In the newly created role, Sun liaises with local regulators and helps PGIM to strengthen its relationships with Chinese institutional investors. Prior to Sun's appointment, his job duties were handled by multiple people across PGIM by asset class.
The focus of Sun, and the IRG team globally, is on CIO-level relationships. A company spokeswoman said the team seeks to offer client solutions and strategies across a full spectrum of asset classes, across both public and private markets.
Sun was most recently the general manager for US fund house Legg Mason’s wholly foreign-owned enterprise in Shanghai. Legg Mason declined to comment on whether it would replace him.
STATE STREET HIRES SENIOR SALES DUO IN JAPAN
US custody bank State Street Corporation has appointed Fumihiko Yonezawa as deputy president at Tokyo-based State Street Trust and Banking and Ryo Nakamura as head of sector solutions for Japan. They joined State Street on December 18.
Based in Tokyo, both men report to Jason Rich, Sydney-based head of sector solutions for Asia-Pacific at State Street, and to Mark Hamilton, president of State Street Trust and Banking.
In his newly created role, Yonezawa is tasked with strengthening State Street’s client segment strategy in Japan, among other duties.
State Street created the role because it sees growth opportunities in Japan, said a company spokeswoman. She added that some of Yonezawa's responsibilities were previously taken up by the executive management team in Japan, including chairman Hideyuki Takahashi and president Mark Hamilton.
Yonezawa joined State Street from JP Morgan, where he was head of investor services for Japan. The US investment bank declined to comment on whether it had replaced Yonezawa.
Nakamura is responsible for developing new revenue opportunities in Japan across asset managers, asset owners, insurers, official institutions, alternatives and wealth management. He has replaced Kazuko Sakaguchi, who had left the company.
Nakamura had most recently served as head of enterprise buy-side solutions for Japan at Bloomberg.
EASTSPRING CONFIRMS HK HEAD OF INTERMEDIARIES AND GM
Eastspring Investments, the Asian fund management arm of UK insurer Prudential, has confirmed the appointment of Joyce Chan as Hong Kong head of intermediaries and general manager of the Hong Kong office.
She joined the Singapore-headquartered firm on January 6. AsianInvestor had first reported on her move to the firm in December.
The Hong Kong intermediaries role is a newly created one; the duties were previously covered by other members of the distribution team, a spokeswoman said. In this capacity, Chan reports to Glen Lee, Singapore-based head of intermediary sales.
Chan also oversees general administration and regulatory matters as general manager for Hong Kong. In that capacity she reports to Xavier Meyer, Singapore-based head of distribution.
Singapore-based Ooi Boon Peng now relinquishes his position as Hong Kong chief executive and will focus on his other roles as CEO for Singapore and head of investment strategies.
Chan joined Eastspring from PineBridge Investments, where she was head of Hong Kong intermediary business development. Her former duties have been combined with PineBridge's Greater China institutional business development team under Hong Kong-based Maggie Zhao.
VALUE PARTNERS' QUANT INVESTMENT SOLUTIONS HEAD EXITS
David Quah has resigned from his position as managing director of quantitative investment solutions at Value Partners.
A company spokeswoman said Quah is leaving for personal reasons. His last employment date will be in March 2020, she added.
Quah joined Value Partners in August 2017 from Mirae Asset Global Investments, where he was head of exchange-traded funds (ETFs).
The spokeswoman declined to say who specifically will take care of Quah's responsibilities after his departure, stating only that the group adopts a team approach across all departments to ensure the co-ownership of responsibilities.
AsianInvestor reported last month that the Hong Kong fund house will see several more departures in the coming few months, including that of Singapore head Alistair Ding in a restructuring of its sales team, Hong Kong-based senior director for alternative products Kathy Li, and others.
CREDIT SUISSE HIRES CHINA PRIME SALES DUO
Credit Suisse has appointed Michelle Lim as head of China prime sales and business development and Henry Lam as director in China prime sales, effective January 2.
Based in Hong Kong, Lim leads sales, capital introduction and consulting services for China prime clients and reports to Jonathan Jenkins, Asia-Pacific head of equity sales and prime distribution.
Lam reports to Lim, and is responsible for client origination.
A Credit Suisse spokeswoman said the roles had been newly created as part of the firm's focus on China and China hedge funds.
Both Lim and Lam joined from Deutsche Bank. There, Lim was the co-head of Asia prime brokerage sales, while Lam was a director on the same team.
The departures come after Deutsche sold its global prime finance and electronic equities businesses to BNP Paribas, with the transactions obtaining approval in November.
CREDIT SUISSE SETS UP QUANT TEAM IN ASIA
Credit Suisse has also established a quantitative investment team in Hong Kong to expand the bank’s research advisory product suite for hedge fund and private banking clients.
The Asia-Pacific quantitative and systematic strategy (QSS) team will combine expertise and data from Holt, Credit Suisse’s proprietary analytical platform, to generate investment ideas that can be applied to structured products, said the bank in a release.
Will Stephens has become the head of Asia-Pacific QSS after moving from Deutsche Bank, where he was head of delta one strategy and head of regional equity strategy. Two of his former colleagues, Elita Lai and Dave Yin, have also joined, in the respective roles of equity quantitative strategist and quantitative analyst.
At Deutsche, Lai had been an equity quantitative strategist at Deutsche and Yin a research associate. They also left after the German bank for Credit Suisse after the former finalised the sale of its global prime finance and electronic equities business to BNP Paribas.
Other people news reported by AsianInvestor in the last week:
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