Weekly roundup of people news, Jan 20
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Note: This weekly roundup will take a break for Chinese New Year and resume on February 3. We wish our readers a joyous Year of the Rabbit.
UNISUPER EXPANDS PRIVATE MARKETS TEAM
Australian UniSuper, the A$115 ($79.3 billion) superannuation fund has appointed Sukhi Lekhi as senior investment analyst, and Lachlan McLeish as investment analyst.
They will report to Sandra Lee, UniSuper’s head of private markets. Both are based in Melbourne, a spokesperson told AsianInvestor.
Lekhi joined UniSuper in December 2022 from Deloitte where she held the position of associate director in the mergers and acquisitions valuations practice.
Deloitte did not respond to AsianInvestor's inquiries on when Lekhi left the firm and whether a replacement was named.
McLeish joined UniSuper in January from PwC where he most recently a senior consultant in corporate valuation advisory, handling valuations of large infrastructure assets in Australia and New Zealand.
His previous experience includes EY and PPB. PwC did not respond to AsianInvestor's inquiries about when McLeish left the firm and who took over his role.
UniSuper’s private markets team manage A$11 billion in infrastructure and private equity investments, including UniSuper’s recent investment in PRP Diagnostic Imaging and partnership with Uniseed.
Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEX) named Wilfred Yiu and Bonnie Y Chan as co-chief operating officers and Katherine Ng as head of listing.
All of them are based in Hong Kong and their appointments are effective February 1.
Yiu joined HKEX in April 2019 and became sole chief operating officer on November 26. He will now share that responsibility with Chan, who joined HKEX as head of listing in January 2020.
As the new head of listing, Ng will succeed Chan. She joined HKEX in 2013 as head of policy and secretariat services, listing division.
Ng will report directly to HKEX chief executive officer Nicolas Aguzin and become a member of the management committee.
Yiu and Chan will oversee all operational matters of HKEX’s business and will also report to Aguzin.
As co-COOs, they will directly oversee the chief China economists' office, corporate communications, group strategy, human resources and Mainland development.
Yiu, who will also remain head of equities, will continue to be responsible for overseeing the operation of HKEX’s cash, derivatives, clearing and depository businesses. He will also continue to be chief executive of both The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited and Hong Kong Futures Exchange Limited.
The appointments of Chan and Yiu as co-COOs were approved by the Securities and Futures Commission.
NATIXIS IM’S APAC HEAD TO MOVE TO NEW INTERNAL ROLE
Fabrice Chemouny was named head of international distribution for Natixis Investment Managers, overseeing client and development activities for EMEA, APAC and LATAM, effective March 1.
He was previously head of Asia Pacific at Natixis IM. Currently based in Hong Kong, he may relocate to Europe later this year in order to be closer to international clients and teams, a spokesperson told AsianInvestor.
Chemouny will report to Tim Ryan, head of asset and wealth management within Groupe BPCE’s global financial services.
There will be no head of APAC for now, the spokesperson said.
The local business heads in APAC will continue to report to Fabrice Chemouny directly, the spokesperson said, adding that Natixis IM remains committed to the region.
ALLSPRING OPENS HONG KONG OFFICE, NAMES NORTH ASIA SALES HEAD
Allspring Global Investments (Allspring) opened its office in Hong Kong on January 16 and appointed Linda Luk as head of sales for North Asia.
Luk will be responsible for executing Allspring’s sales strategy and servicing clients in Hong Kong, China, and Taiwan in this newly created role.
She joined in January and reports to Andy Sowerby, head of Allspring’s international client group, a spokesperson told AsianInvestor.
Before joining Allspring, Luk served as a managing director and chief distribution officer at Income Partners Asset Management.
Before that, she was at Vanguard Investments Hong Kong.
Income Partners did not respond to AsianInvestor's inquiries about when Luk left the firm or who took over her role.
EOS AT FEDERATED HERMES HIRES ROSS TEVERSON
EOS at Federated Hermes has hired Ross Teverson to lead its engagement team for Asia and global emerging markets (GEM).
Based in London, Teverson will lead development and delivery of EOS’ engagement plan for corporate and public policy, and best market practices across Asia and GEM.
He takes over a three-person Asia and GEM team at EOS. Overall there are 45 people on the EOS team.
Teverson replaces Hannah Shoesmith who left last summer, a spokesperson told AsianInvestor.
Teverson was previously head of strategy for global emerging market equities at Jupiter Asset Management - where he held the additional roles of member of the stewardship committee and leadership group.
Teverson left Jupiter AM in April 2022. Some of the funds he managed, including the Jupiter Global Emerging Markets fund, were taken over by another manager, Nick Payne, a spokesperson confirmed to AsianInvestor.
Teverson was also previously with Standard Life Investments.
LEO WEALTH MAKES SINGAPORE ACQUISITION, NAMES CEO
Leo Wealth is opening a a Singapore office through the acquisition of Jachin Capital, an independent fund manager.
Joyce Woo, founder and chief executive officer at Jachin Capital, will continue in her role as chief executive and head of Leo Wealth Singapore and will join the firm’s executive team in Asia.
Woo founded Jachin Capital in 2014.
The acquisition expands the wealth adviser’s presence in Asia beyond Hong Kong and Tokyo. The Tokyo office was opened in July 2022.
The Singapore acquisition will further Leo Wealth’s digital capabilities by incorporating Jachin Capital’s iAdvisor digital investment platform into the service offerings.
Leo Wealth will be growing its team in Singapore, and plans to add 10-15 employees across various functions including relationship management, client servicing, investments, and operations, a spokesperson told AsianInvestor.
The acquisition of Jachin Capital is approved by the Monetary Authority in Singapore. Rebranding will be completed in the first quarter of 2023.
Leo Wealth oversees $4.5 billion in client assets.
FRANKLIN TEMPLETON HIRES FOR INDUSTRY ADVISORY SERVICES TEAM
Franklin Templeton has appointed Robert Crossley as vice president, industry advisory services in Asia Pacific and Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA), effective January 16.
Crossley will work with distribution leadership teams in Asia Pacific and EMEA to help drive sales.
Based in London, he reports to Sandy Kaul, senior vice president for global industry advisory services, a spokesperson told AsianInvestor.
The spokesperson did not say if this is a new role or if anyone else was in the same role previously.
Crossley joins Franklin Templeton from Citi where he was a managing director and worked for the last 17 years in a number of roles including business advisory services, global macro strategy and European rates strategy.
Prior to Citi, Crossley worked as a proprietary trader, fixed income portfolio manager, in risk management and corporate treasury.
Citi declined to comment on AsianInvestor's inquiries about when Crossley left or who had replaced him.
WTW APPOINTS TAIWAN HEAD
Global advisory firm WTW (former Willis Towers Watson), has appointed Tony Yen as head of Taiwan, effective January 1, 2023.
Yen will report to Simon Weaver, head of Asia Pacific and head of corporate risk and broking, Asia Pacific, a spokesperson told AsianInvestor.
Yen succeeds Charles Wang who retired in December.
Yen joined WTW in 2015.
He heads WTW’s corporate risk and broking business in Taiwan. Prior to WTW, Yen wored with insurance broking and risk management firm Marsh, the spokesperson added.
The commissioner of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), Sean Hughes, is set to lead Vanguard Australia's legal and compliance function as general counsel.
Hughes will join the Vanguard executive team at the start of February.
Hughes joined the Australian financial market watchdog as a commissioner in late 2018 with a five-year term ending in December 2023.
He is stepping down ten months before the end of his contract.
This was Hughes' third tenure with ASIC, having served as director, financial services between 1999 and 2003 and as a senior executive between 2008 and 2010.
He was appointed commissioner in November 2018.
Hughes is a former chief executive of New Zealand's Financial Markets Authority. Hughes has also held roles including chief risk and legal officer at UniSuper, head of legal at NAB, and group general manager, compliance at ANZ Group.