Weekly roundup of people news, Jan 13
PHILIPPINES’ SOCIAL SECURITY SYSTEM GETS NEW PRESIDENT AND CEO
Rolando Ledesma Macasaet formally assumed the role of president and chief executive officer of Philippines' pension fund Social Security System (SSS) from outgoing Michael Gonzales Regino on January 10.
Macasaet, who held the position of president and general manager of the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) during the last four years of the Duterte administration, was appointed by President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. to head the fund.
Regino was in his SSS role only from March 2022.
He succeeded Aurora Ignacio, who moved to the Philippine Deposit Insurance as a board member. Ignacio had helmed the SSS since 2019.
Macasaet was previously with the Philippine National Bank (PNB). He also served as a board member of various companies such as San Miguel Corporation, Bank of Commerce, Private Infrastructure and Development Corporation, and PCI Bank.
Macasaet has also worked for the Bank of Montreal and Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank in Beijing.
FWD TAPS CHIEF RISK OFFICER FROM AXA
Hong Kong tycoon Richard Li’s insurance business FWD Group hired Jeremy Porter from AXA Hong Kong as group chief risk officer (CRO), subject to regulatory approval.
Porter will be a member of the group executive committee and will report to Huynh Thanh Phong, group chief executive officer and executive director.
Porter will lead the group’s risk and compliance functions, succeeding Niall Grady who had been serving as interim CRO as well as chief compliance officer since April 2022. Grady will remain in his role as group chief compliance officer and will report to Porter.
Porter is an actuary with over 30 years of experience across various risk, finance and actuarial roles.
He joins FWD from AXA where he was CRO for Hong Kong and Macau since 2019. Before AXA, he spent almost nine years at HSBC Insurance in Hong Kong in various senior roles in actuary and risk management.
AXA declined to comment on Porter's replacement.
KIC MAKES CHANGES TO INVESTMENT TEAMS
Korea Investment Corporation has made changes to its investment teams and overseas office executives.
Lee Seung-kul (Sean) was promoted to senior managing diretor from managing director, effective January 1. The change comes after he was named head of the sovereign wealth fund’s investment strategy and innovation division in August, taking over from now CIO Lee Hon as previously announced.
Lee Seung-kul has worked with KIC's real estate team as well as at the Singapore office, a KIC spokesperson told AsianInvestor.
Another appointment is that of Shin Yong-seon, who was promoted to senior managing director. Shin returns to Korea as head of the public market division.after being president of KIC’s New York office.
Managing director Lee Kyoung-taek is the new president of the New York office as of December 29, 2022, previously being head of KIC’s fixed income group.
In addition, senior director Kim Sung-il was appointed head of equity investment and strategy group, while senior director Lee Sung-woo has become head of the fixed income group.
Finally, senior managing director Park Jin-seong took over as president of the London office on December 26, 2022. Park was previously head of the public market division.
TEMASEK, FUTURE FUND EXECS JOIN GPCA BOARD
Rohit Sipahimalani, CIO at Singpore’s Temasek, and Craig Thorburn, director at the office of Australia’s Future Fund, have joined Global Private Capital Association (GPCA) as board directors.
Frank Su, managing director and head of private equity in Asia at Canada’s CPP Investments, and Jose Sosa del Valle, partner at Lexington Partners, have also joined the board.
The Global Private Capital Association (GPCA) is a non-profit, independent membership organization representing private capital investors who manage more than $2 trillion in assets across Asia, Latin America, Africa, Central and Eastern Europe and the Middle East.
GPCA’s Singapore office – co-funded by the Monetary Authority of Singapore – is the organisation’s headquarters for the region.
EASTSPRING HIRES UOB VETERAN AS DEPUTY REGIONAL CEO
Eastspring Investments, the asset management arm of Prudential, has appointed Faizal Gaffoor as deputy regional chief executive officer and head of products and partnerships.
Gaffoor joins from UOB Asset Management where he spent the last 26 years and was most recently managing director and group chief marketing officer.
He joined Eastspring in the newly created role in December 2022, reporting to Wendy Lim, regional CEO Asia and global head of distribution, marketing and products.
Based in Singapore, Gaffoor will be responsible for the growth of the Eastspring franchise in Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam, and the delivery of regional product strategies for retail and institutional businesses.
He also oversees Eastspring’s business relationship management with the Prudential Life entities and will grow the firm’s investment-linked insurance policies (ILP) and non-ILP businesses.
UOB Asset Management told AsianInvestor that it has promoted Rachel Ong to chief marketing officer, Singapore, to take over Gaffoor's responsibilities effective Dec 14, 2022.
Ong will lead the retail, institutional and digital sales teams as well as drive product development and marketing. She reports to CEO Thio Boon Kiat, a spokesperson told AsianInvestor.
Ong joined the firm in 2005. More recently, she was deputy chief marketing officer, senior director and head of digital channels and sales.
WTW APPOINTS NEW HEAD OF APAC
Willis Towers Watson (WTW) announced it has combined its Australasia and Asia businesses, into one Asia Pacific region, with effect from January 1.
Current head of Australasia Simon Weaver has been appointed to lead the newly formed business as head of Asia Pacific. He reports to Pamela Thomson-Hall, head of international at WTW.
Weaver will also retain his current role as head of corporate risk and broking.
Based in Australia, Weaver is now responsible for driving business growth throughout the newly integrated region. Current head of Asia Clare Muhiudeen will retire from WTW in February, and will work with Weaver in the transition period.
Weaver joined the business in 2015 as head of Singapore and Southeast Asia before taking over the local business in 2018.
CHARTWELL CAPITAL BRINGS IN SEASONED HEDGE FUND MANAGER
Hong Kong-based asset management firm Chartwell Capital has named Daniel Jim as full-time senior advisor, effective January 3, the firm told AsianInvestor.
The newly created position will unite the co-investment partners’ network of Chartwell to enhance its engagement and impact investing strategies, the firm said.
Based in Hong Kong, Jim will report to Ronald Chan, chief investment officer.
Jim has 20 years of experience in hedge funds and alternative investments.
He is the founder and chief investment advisor of Tripod BoLe, an advisory platform on Asian hedge funds.
He is also founder and chief investment officer of one of the early local hedge fund managers Tripod Management.
MORNINGSTAR SUSTAINALYTICS APPOINTS DIRECTOR IN SINGAPORE
Morningstar Sustainalytics appointed Yayoi Asazuma as director, client relations, effective January 1.
Asazuma is responsible for institutional investor client needs across Singapore, Malaysia and other countries in Southeast Asia.
In the additional client advisor role, she will assist in meeting the increasing demand for ESG research in the region and work closely with asset owners, asset managers, banks and other institutional investors to manage ESG-driven risks and opportunities.
Asazuma relocated to Singapore from Tokyo for the role. She reports to Chris Terzis, Morningstar Sustainalytics’ senior director of client relations APAC ex Japan.
Asazuma joined Morningstar Sustainalytics’ Tokyo office in 2019 as client relations director. She has previously worked with Nomura across Singapore, Hong Kong and London in equity sales roles.
Morningstar is in the midst of hiring Asazuma's replacement in Tokyo, the company told AsianInvestor.
PGIM RE HIRES PORTFOLIO MANAGER FOR ASIA CORE STRATEGY
PGIM Real Estate has appointed Eileen Yong as executive director and deputy portfolio manager for its Asia core strategy, based in Singapore.
Yong will be responsible for managing PGIM RE’s Asia core strategy, which aims to deliver defensive total returns with a steady income by investing primarily in core, income-producing assets in the more liquid and mature markets across Asia Pacific.
She will report to Vincent Chew, executive director and portfolio manager of the Asia core strategy.
Yong steps in for Olivia Chow, portfolio manager, who will be moving internally to take on expanded portfolio management responsibilities in the region.
Most recently, Yong was senior fund manager at LaSalle Investment Management leading the strategy, construction and investment decisions for two Asian mandates. Prior to that, she was at Aviva Investors.
Yong left LaSalle IM in the fourth quarter of 2022, a spokesperson told AsianInvestor. Her responsibilities have been taken over by Elaine Han, senior fund manager.
PGIM Real Estate is the property investment and financing business of Prudential Financial’s global investment management business PGIM.
KOREA'S MASTERN IM HIRES FOR INFRASTRUCTURE TEAM
Mastern Investment Management has hired Cho In-soon as deputy head of the infrastructure group.
He will lead the infrastructure group of Mastern IM from January 2023, according to a statement on the company’s LinkedIn page.
Mastern IM could not be reached for comments.
After previously working at Samsung Life Insurance, Cho joins from Samsung Asset Management where his last role was head of the infrastructure team.
COLLIERS APPOINTS SINGAPORE MD
Professional services and investment management company Colliers has appointed Bastiaan van Beijsterveldt as managing director in Singapore, effective immediately.
Reporting to Sam Harvey-Jones, Asia Pacifc COO, he will be responsible for expanding the country’s major client relationships regionally and globally.
He was previously executive director and head of occupier services in Singapore and has been with Colliers since April 2019.
Wei Leng Tang previously held the role of Singapore managing director, in addition to head of capital markets, a spokesperson told AsianInvestor.
Following van Beijsterveldt’s appointment, Tang will continue her role as head of capital markets, responsible for growth of Colliers' capital markets and investment services team.
The spokesperson did not provide any update on a replaement for van Beijsterveldt's previous role.
NEW FORESTS NAMES NEW CEO
New Forests has appointed Mark Rogers as chief executive officer, replacing David Brand who will continue in his role as chair.
Rogers takes over on April 3 and will work closely with Brand over the first quarter of 2023 to ensure a smooth transition.
Rogers joined the company in 2016 as managing director for Australia and New Zealand and took on additional responsibility for the US as senior managing director in 2019.
Rogers will continue to chair New Forests’ investment committees.
New Forests will undertake a search process for Roger's replacement and will confirm any interim arrangements in due course, a press release said.
New Forests is an investment manager of nature-based real assets and natural capital strategies, with A$9.95 billion ($6.85 billion) in assets under management across more than 1.1 million hectares (2.9 million acres) of investments.
MORRISON FOERSTER ADDS PARTNERS IN ASIA
Global law firm Morrison Foerster has elected lawyers to the firm’s partnership, effective January 1, 2023.
Among them is Chris Spalding from the transactions department and the real estate group, who is based in Tokyo.
His practice focuses on the financing, acquisition, disposition, and development of real estate assets.
Per Lindberg, a member of the transactions department and the finance and projects group, is based in Singapore.
Lindberg advises developers, investors, and lenders on all aspects of energy and infrastructure deals, including project development, financing and acquisitions and divestments.