AsianInvesterAsianInvester
Advertisement

Weekly roundup of people news, May 28

Insurer Aviva Singlife appoints new group chief executive; Temasek director relocates for MLC Asset Management role; Schroders sales director leaves for VC firm; Invesco fixed income manager leaves; Credit Suisse Global PE head to relocate to Hong Kong; UBS AM Australia and NZ head to step down; and more.
Weekly roundup of people news, May 28

MLC ASSET MANAGEMENT HIRES FROM TEMASEK

Kristian Zimmermann

Kristian Zimmermann has stepped down as a senior-level director from Singapore state fund Temasek to join MLC Asset Management in Sydney as co-head of private equity.

He begins in his new position in mid-June and will head up the private equity investment team at MLC Asset Management alongside New York-based Marek Herchel, who will oversee the global investment agenda, while Zimmermann will drive the Australia business.

A Temasek spokesperson confirmed that Zimmermann has left his post as a director in Temasek’s risk management team based in Singapore but declined to comment further.

Zimmermann had previously held senior roles at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Deutsche Bank and Merrill Lynch.

An MLC Asset Management spokesperson said that this was a newly created role. 

FUTURE FUND MAKES CHANGES TO THE BOARD

Patricia Cross

Australian sovereign wealth fund Future Fund has appointed Patricia Cross to the Board of Guardians for a five-year term, as two members conclude their terms.

Cross has served on boards for the past 25 years and her most recent executive role was the executive general manager of NAB’s wholesale and institutional bank. She was also previously part of the investment banking team at the Chase Manhattan Bank Group in New York and London.

She is currently also chair of the Commonwealth Superannuation Corporation and holds non-executive director roles at the Macquarie Group, Aviva and the National Australia Bank (NAB).

In the same announcement, the government stated that Erin Flaherty and Dr Jane Wilson have concluded their terms on the board and that another board member Michael Wachtel had been reappointed for a second term.

AVIVA SINGLIFE APPOINTS GROUP CEO

Pearlyn Phau Yee Meng will join Aviva Singlife as its first executive director and group chief executive officer. She joins from DBS Group where she is currently group head of consumer products, marketing and ecosystem partnerships.

Pearlyn Phau

Subject to regulatory approval, Phau will commence her new role on 18 August 2021 and will continue to be based in Singapore.


 

Aviva Singlife is a new S$3.2 billion ($2.4 billion) insurance entity that was created in November 2020 through the merger of Singapore Life (Singlife) and Aviva Singapore. 

Phau will replace Walter de Oude, who is a founder of Singlife and is currently acting group chief executive of Aviva Singlife.  He will continue as deputy chairman of Aviva Singlife after Phau’s appointment. 

Nishit Majmudar is currently CEO of Aviva Singapore and will step down from his executive and board roles to become a senior adviser.

Prior to her current role, Phau was deputy group head of consumer banking and wealth management at DBS in Singapore and had also spent four years in the same role for the bank’s Hong Kong entity.

In April, Aviva Singlife appointed Kim Rosenkilde as the group’s first chief investment officer.

DBS did not respond to requests for comment.

SCHRODERS SALES DIRECTOR LEAVES FOR VC FIRM

Rosalind Bazany

Rosalind Bazany will leave her role as sales director of global private banks distribution at Schroders at the end of June to join venture capital firm Antler Capital.

Bazany has been Schroders since 2011 when she joined the UK and Ireland consultant relations team while based in London. She moved to Singapore in 2016 as relationship director for private banks and global financial client group for Asia, and took on her current role in January 2020.

She will join Singapore-headquartered Antler Capital,as a director.

“After a decade at the firm, it feels like the natural time for a new challenge,” Bazany told AsianInvestor. “Very excited to be part of an incredible team that have achieved a truly remarkable amount since their launch in 2017.”

A Schroders spokesperson said that it was in the process of hiring her replacement. Antler did not response to requests for comment at the time of publishing.

INVESCO FIXED INCOME MANAGER CHARLIE HU DEPARTS

Charlie Hu

Charlie Hu, fixed income portfolio manager, has left Invesco to join China Life Franklin Asset Management, according to his LinkinIn profile. Invesco declined to comment on his departure. 

He re-joins the new firm in May as a fixed income portfolio manager. Hu had worked for the firm from 2017 to 2019 in the same role. Previously, he worked with Morgan Stanley, Indus Capital Partners and The Boston Consulting Group. 

China Life Franklin Asset Management did not reply to emailed questions on his appointment. 

CREDIT SUISSE GLOBAL PE HEAD RELOCATES TO HONG KONG IN NEW ROLE

 

Alois Müller, head of global private equity at Credit Suisse, has been appointed to the newly created role of Asia Pacific head of private and alternative markets.

He will move from Zurich to Hong Kong by the third quarter to take up the new position, while retaining his existing role as head of global private equity.

In the new position, Müller reports to Francois Monnet, North Asia head of private banking and Benjamin Cavalli, South Asia head of private banking, Fabian Shey, head of investment solution and products, private and alternative markets. He joined the bank in 2017.

Müller had previously worked with ultra-high net-worth clients for Rothschild and UBS in Hong Kong.

UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT HEAD FOR AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND STEPS DOWN

Bryce Doherty

After 10 years at UBS, Bryce Doherty is stepping down from his role as head of asset management for Australia and New Zealand.

He will leave the firm at the end of June, and head of Australian real estate business John Mowat has been appointed as his interim replacement in addition to his current role, effective immediately.

Doherty will be pursuing new challenges within the Australian market, according to an internal note seen by AsianInvestor. Doherty did not respond to requests for comment.

He played a key role in the successful build-out of AM in Australia, including the integration of ING Investment Management and the partnership with Yarra Capital Management and CBRE Clarion, according to the note.

His departure comes after UBS Asset Management's head of Hong Kong Markus Egloff left UBS after nearly 25 years to join KKR.

GAM APPOINTS HEAD OF NEW SINGAPORE OFFICE

Terence Bong

GAM Investments hired Terence Bong into a new position to lead client activities for Singapore and Southeast Asia region and head the asset manager’s new Singapore office, incorporated at the end of April. His appointment is effective May 24.

Based in Singapore, he will report to Rossen Djounov, head of Asia Pacific, who is based in Hong Kong. A spokesperson said GAM's Hong Kong office formerly led client activities for Singapore and Southeast Asia. 

Besides Singapore and Hong Kong, GAM has regional offices in Tokyo and Sydney.

Bong was most recently head of wholesale for Southeast Asia at Franklin Templeton. Prior to this, he was head of Intermediary business development at Nikko Asset Management Asia. He has also held roles at Schroder Investment Management, Aviva and Citibank Singapore.

Franklin Templeton said Bong left the company on September 30, 2020. Clement Lee, head of retail, took over the wholesale business. 

SINGAPORE MULTI-FAMILY OFFICE APPOINTS TWO IN SINGAPORE

Sze King Chong

Singapore-based multi-family office Kamet Capital, which manages over $1 billion in assets for four clients, has appointed Sze King Chong as portfolio manager and Xunwen Oh as client adviser. 

Chong was most recently senior portfolio manager at Commonwealth Avenue Asset Management, a hedge fund company he founded in 2017. Prior to that he was a senior portfolio manager at Julius Baer and earlier head of portfolio construction at Lombard Odier.

Oh joins Kamet from JP Morgan Private Bank, where she spent 12 years across client advisory and global investment specialist roles. Prior to this, she was an associate at the Monetary Authority of Singapore.

A spokesperson for Kamet said Chong started in March and reports to chief executive Kerry Goh, while Oh started in April and reports to Serena Wong, head of advisory. She added these are new roles as the company grows its flagship multi-asset fund and the number of families it works with.

A spokesperson for JP Morgan declined to comment.

HSBC AM EXPANDS CLIMATE TECH TEAM

HSBC Asset Management made two new appointments for its new Climate Technology (Climatech) team as part of its strategy to expand direct investment capabilities in alternatives.

Christophe Defert

Christophe Defert joins as head of climate technology venture investments. Before joining HSBC Asset Management he spent 10 years at Centrica where he most recently built and led Centrica Innovations’ Venture effort globally.

Michael D’Aurizio joins as investment director. He has over 10 years’ experience in power, utilities, and clean energy including business strategy and venture capital, and previously led Centrica Innovations’ US activities.

Michael D’Aurizio

Both men report to Remi Bourrette, head of venture and growth Investments, who joined the firm last year from HSBC Global Banking and Markets.

Centrica did not reply to emailed questions on their replacements. 

BLACKROCK EXECUTIVE JOINS TCW ASIA IN INVESTMENT SOLUTIONS

Josephine Du

Josephine Du joined US-headquartered asset manager TCW Group's Asia team as senior vice president for investment solutions in early May. 

Under this newly created role for adding Asia market presence, Du reports to Jessie Zhang, head of investment solutions for Asia Ex-Japan. Both of them are based in Hong Kong.

Prior to joining TCW Asia, Josephine worked with BlackRock as the lead of financial institutions group for China. 

BlackRock did not reply to emailed questions on Du's replacement. 

¬ Haymarket Media Limited. All rights reserved.
Advertisement