KIC confirms new CIO; predecessor joins World Bank
Korea Investment Corporation (KIC) has confirmed Kang Shinwoo, formerly president and chief executive of Hanwha Asset Management, as its fifth chief investment officer.

The news emerged in media reports in late April, but was not confirmed by the $91 billion sovereign wealth fund at the time.

Meanwhile, Choo Heung-sik, whom Kang replaced as CIO at KIC, has been appointed as director of investment management at the World Bank, overseeing $130 billion in assets. Choo had assumed the CIO role at KIC on March 2014, having moved from Bank of Korea, where he was head of reserve management. 

KIC cited as the main reasons for appointing Kang his outstanding leadership and communication skills, his expertise in asset management and his exceptional insight into the international financial network. Officials at the fund said Kang’s presence was expected to elevate its global investment competence.   

A former senior executive of KIC told AsianInvestor that the appointment was timely and appropriate in light of Kang’s strong skills and global insights gained from working at local and global asset managers. In addition, he has served in the past as one of KIC’s steering committee members, noted the source.

Kang’s appointment follows the April hire of Kim Sangjoon as the institution’s new chief operating officer and the appointment of Hong Seung-Jae as chief risk officer and compliance officer (CRO) in May.

Kim was most recently head of KIC’s London office and has been with the fund since 2010, and before that worked with Samsung Life and Barclays Korea. Hong was previously head of the international division at Bank of Korea.

These moves are part of a shake-up by KIC’s new chairman and chief executive, Eun Sung-Soo, who came on board in January.

In February the CIO, COO and CRO all stepped down, in changes that sought to draw a line under the controversial tenure of ‘Hank’ Ahn Hong-chul. He left KIC in November, a year before his contract had been due to finish. The fund had violated internal guidelines on his watch, as reported.

Kim Young-Hyun has reportedly replaced Kang as CEO of Hanwha AM, having formerly been head of alternative investments at the firm.

Kang had been CEO at Hanwha AM since 2011, before which he worked at Korea Investment Management, Dongbang Peregrin, Hyundai Investment Trust, US fund house Franklin Templeton, Goodmorning Asset Management and PCA Asset Management.

PineBridge poaches duo from Amundi
US-based PineBridge Investments has added two senior executives from rival Amundi to boost its institutional sales team in Asia. Maggie Zhao becomes managing director for business development and Leo Li vice president for institutional business development. 

Zhao joined on June 1, reporting to Rajeev Mittal, Asia chief executive at PineBridge. Based in Hong Kong, she leads a team of four focused on China, Hong Kong, Macau and the Philippines.

At Amundi, Zhao was head of China client coverage and development. Prior to this, she was chief representative for China capital markets at Calyon in Beijing and has also worked at Credit Agricole and BNP Paribas.

Meanwhile, Li joined PineBridge in May and reports to Zhao. At Amundi, he was vice president for China business development. Before that, he worked in the overseas investment division of PICC Property and Casualty Company.

PineBridge said it created the two new roles because of growing interest in its investment capabilities.

Amundi did not respond to a query about the departures of Zhao and Li.

Rothschild Wealth Management shuffles Asia management
Rothschild Wealth Management has hired Mike Hue and Tang Kai Meng as senior client advisers in Singapore. Hue also becomes Singapore head of wealth management, replacing Elizabeth Hart, who will transfer later this year to Zurich as a senior client adviser.

The new hires report to Audrey Zau, who has been promoted to the newly created role of Asia head of wealth management, but retains her former responsibilities as head of North Asia. She joined in that post in October last year.

Hue previously worked at ABN Amro Private Bank since 2009, where he was most recently senior business manager.

Tang has 20 years’ experience in private banking and asset/wealth management  at various firms, including UOB, Societe Generale, Citi and Deutsche Bank. He was most recently an executive director at GEMS Capital in Singapore.

Deutsche AM replaces head of Korea real estate
Deutsche Asset Management has named Christopher Kimm as head of Korea real estate to replace Terry Huang, who has left to pursue other interests. The firm declined to confirm when Huang departed.

Reporting to head of alternatives Pierre Cherki, Kimm will also serve as co-representative director of Deutsche AM Korea along with Lee Dong-Keun.

The firm has eight investment professionals in Korea, part of a 26-strong Asia-Pacific team.

With 20 years’ experience, Kimm was previously a managing director with Hong Kong-based alternative asset manager Orion Partners. Orion declined to comment on his departure.

Previously, he was managing partner at Ikogest Asia, where he established a co-investment and advisory platform mainly for Korean institutions. He also founded and was CEO of the Korea office of property fund house LaSalle Investment Management.

Franklin Templeton Solutions appoints multi-asset PM
Franklin Templeton Solutions has appointed Ricky Chau as portfolio manager for multi-asset portfolio management and product solutions in Asia.

Based in Hong Kong, Chau has 16 years of financial experience, most recently as director of global investment solutions at China’s ICBC Credit Suisse Asset Management.

He reports to Stephen Lingard, senior vice president of Franklin Templeton Solutions.

Carlyle confirms new Australia buyout head
US-based alternative asset manager The Carlyle Group has promoted David Bluff to head its buyout team in Australia and New Zealand. He was previously a director with the team and will remain in Sydney.

He replaces his former boss, Simon Moore, who will remain with the firm until the end of this year.

Bluff joined Carlyle in 2008 with 15 years of experience in private equity and corporate finance in Australia, Europe and the US. He has worked with brewer SABMiller, where he was responsible for acquisitions in Europe and the Americas, and on JP Morgan’s M&A teams in both Australia and the UK.

Carlyle had invested $16.7 billion of equity in some 220 transactions in Asia Pacific and close to $2 billion of equity in eight transactions in Australia as of March 31.

Vontobel WM launches team to serve clients in Australia
Swiss private bank Vontobel Wealth Management has set up a team of private banking advisers in Zurich dedicated to wealthy clients who are domiciled in Australia.

The team is led by Bernhard Breiter, who joined Vontobel in Zurich on June 1. He previously spent 15 years at UBS covering Australian, including two years in the Swiss bank’s representative office in Sydney.

Breiter brought with him Torsten Finkler and Franziska Hug, who worked with him previously at UBS. All three are based in Zurich but report to Alex Fung, Asia-Pacific head of Vontobel Wealth Management.

The booking desk, based in Zurich, went live on June 1. Vontobel targets wealthy Asians who want to globally diversify their family fortune, so it has no local booking centre in this region.

Other people moves reported by AsianInvestor in the past week:

'Bionic adviser' Bento hiring, eyes H2 launch