CHINA ORIENT AM INTERNATIONAL LOSES HEAD OF EQUITIES
Hong Kong-based China Orient Asset Management International has seen its head of equities, Tan Zhizhi, depart, AsianInvestor can reveal. It appears he has joined another fund house, Tairen Capital, as his regulatory licence started with that firm on July 16.
An executive at the firm confirmed Tan had left, but said the person looking after media requests could not be reached to confirm when he moved on or whether he would be replaced.
Neither Tan nor Tairen Capital could be immediately reached for comment.
Tan had joined the subsidiary of Beijing-based state-owned China Orient Asset Management in 2015, according to his Linkedin profile. He had looked after the China Orient multi-strategy fund, a long/short equity hedge fund.
PICTET AM REPLACES CHINA BOND ANALYST AND WILL ADD TRADER
There are changes taking place on the fixed income team at Pictet Asset Management in Hong Kong, AsianInvestor has learned.
Jennifer Chang has left her role as Hong Kong-based senior credit analyst to return to Taiwan for personal reasons, a spokeswoman said. But the Swiss firm will add a bond trader "in the near future", she added.
Chang had joined Pictet AM in 2015 and was one of the key members of the China local-currency debt fund.
She will be replaced by Tony Xiao, who joined in June from JP Morgan Asset Management. Xiao reports Cary Yeung, Hong Kong-based head of Greater China debt, who manages the China local-currency debt fund.
Pictet AM will also hire a new trader to replace Echo Chen, the spokeswoman said. Chen, a trader with the fixed income team who mostly worked on the local-currency debt fund, will become an analyst.
Chang could not be reached for comment.
MACQUARIE HIRES INSTITUTIONAL RM FROM INVESCO
Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets has hired Natalie Ngai as a manager in Hong Kong, AsianInvestor has learned. Her licence at the Australian asset manager started on July 8.
Macquarie declined to comment on the hire.
It seems likely Ngai will be looking after institutional clients, as she did at her previous employer, US fund house Invesco.
At Invesco she had worked as an institutional relationship manager for global key accounts since December 2015, according to her LinkedIn profile. The firm declined to comment.
VARDE DESIGNATES CO-CIO IN SINGAPORE AS NEXT CEO
US-based Varde Partners' Singapore-based co-chief investment officer, Ilfryn Carstairs, will become co-chief executive from January 1, 2020, before taking over as sole CEO from current incumbent George Hicks in 2022.
A spokeswoman for the firm said: “We feel an extended [transition] period helps ensure the smoothest transition possible.”
Hicks intends to transition to a co-executive chair role alongside Marcia Page, with whom he co-founded the $14 billion alternative investment manager in 1993.
Carstairs will remain in Singapore for the new role, seemingly underlining the importance of Asia to Varde.
Carstairs shares the co-CIO role with Minneapolis-based Jeremy Hedberg.
Varde closed its first Asia-dedicated vehicle in December, the Varde Asia Credit Fund, with about $400 million in committed capital.
ROTHSCHILD CLOSES ASIA WEALTH DESK; REGIONAL HEAD JOINS RIVAL
Rothschild & Co has closed its Hong Kong wealth management office, the London-based financial services firm’s last remaining wealth management presence in Asia after it closed its Singapore branch last year.
Its former regional head of wealth management, Audrey Zau, left Rothschild on June 30 and has moved to Swiss private bank Lombard Odier as a senior relationship manager.
“Asia remains a key market for the Rothschild & Co group,” she added, and its other operations in the region, such as its advisory business, are unaffected.
Zau had moved to Rothschild in late 2015 as head of North Asia and was promoted to regional chief in mid-2016.
The firm joins a list of wealth and asset management businesses that have shut down or sold off their Asian arms in recent years. They include ABN Amro, ANZ, Barclays, Edmond de Rothschild and Syz.
FIDELITY NAMES GLOBAL HEAD OF STEWARDSHIP
Fidelity International has promoted Tan Jenn-Hui to global head of stewardship and sustainable investing, effective July 16.
Singapore-based Tan was previously head of capital markets and corporate governance for Asia Pacific. He retains those duties and now also leads Fidelity’s sustainable investing activities globally, including strategy and policies on engagement, voting and ESG integration. He reports to Paras Anand, head of asset management for Asia Pacific.
Mike Gibbs, previously London-based head of stewardship and sustainable investing, reportedly left the role in May after taking it up in January last year. However, a spokeswoman said that Gibbs had only overseen Europe and that the global role was a newly created one.
Tan has been with Fidelity International for 12 years, having joined as senior legal counsel in 2007. He was previously a solicitor at law firm Norton Rose Fulbright in London.
BNP PARIBAS APPOINTS ASIA HEAD OF SUSTAINABLE CAPITAL MARKETS
BNP Paribas has hired Huang Chaoni as Asia-Pacific head of sustainable capital markets in the French bank’s global markets division.
Huang started in the role on July 8 and is based in Hong Kong. She reports to Liang Si, Singapore-based Asia-Pacific head of debt capital market (DCM) and syndicate for global markets.
Huang was most recently an executive director for green and sustainable solutions for Asia Pacific at Natixis. The French bank declined to comment on her departure.
In her newly created role, Huang is responsible for managing BNP Paribas’s sustainable finance solutions for corporates, financial institutions and investors with a focus on primary markets, asset finance and securitisation.
A company spokesman said a dedicated position was needed to create more synergy with various DCM teams in the region and with the sustainable capital markets team globally.
Other people news reported by AsianInvestor in the past week:
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