Weekly roundup of people news, Nov 1
BLACKROCK SEES APAC CLIENT SOLUTIONS HEAD EXIT
BlackRock veteran Stephen Hull, formerly Asia-Pacific head of client portfolio solutions at the US funds giant, left in September to pursue a new opportunity, AsianInvestor can reveal.
Hull had been responsible for developing, assembling and managing tailored investment solutions for Asia-Pacific institutions and wealth management clients, his LinkedIn page says.
His responsibilities have been shared among other senior members of the regional client portfolio solutions team, a spokeswoman told AsianInvestor. She declined to say who is now the most senior member of the desk.
Hull declined to comment when contacted by AsianInvestor, which could not ascertain where he might be going.
He had been at BlackRock – including with predecessor firm Merrill Lynch Investment Management, before its merger with BlackRock in 2006 – for 19 years.
SUN LIFE NAMES GENERAL MANAGER FOR HK
Sun Life Hong Kong has appointed Rainbow Pan as general manager for wealth and pensions.
She is joining the Canadian insurance group on November 4 to lead its Hong Kong pensions and wealth management businesses. She will report to Fabien Jeudy, chief executive of Sun Life Hong Kong.
Pan succeeds Belinda Luk, who will retire on November 6 and remain as special adviser at the company.
Pan was most recently chief partnership distribution officer at Hong Kong insurer Tahoe Life, which declined to comment on her departure.
PIMCO NAMES NEW APAC CREDIT RESEARCH HEAD
Pimco has hired Annisa Lee in Hong Kong as head of Asia-Pacific credit research, effective October 28.
Lee assumes the role from Asia portfolio manager Stephen Chang, who had held it on an interim basis when the former incumbent left the firm in mid-2018.
Lee joins Pimco from Nomura, where she had worked for 15 years (including at Lehman Brothers before it was acquired by the Japanese bank), most recently as head of Asia ex-Japan flow credit analysis.
She now reports to Christian Stracke, global head of credit research based in Newport Beach, California.
AsianInvestor understands that Lee left Nomura in August and has been replaced by Varun Varshney, executive director of flow credit trading.
Earlier in her career, Lee worked at Bank of East Asia, Chase Manhattan Bank and ING Bank in various credit research functions.
ADAMAS APPOINTS MD AND COO
Hong Kong-based Adamas Asset Management has appointed Brock Silvers as managing director and Richard Clarke as chief operating officer. Both roles report to chief executive Paul Heffner and are effective immediately.
Silvers' role is focused on the global development of Adamas's small and medium enterprise (SME) corporate credit investing business. A spokeswoman noted that the role was created in response to increased investor demand for private credit investments.
Silvers joined from Shanghai-based Kaiyuan Capital, where he had also been a managing director. Kaiyuan could not be reached for comment on whether he had been replaced.
Clarke succeeds Marc De Kloe, who has moved back to the Netherlands for personal reasons, the spokeswoman said.
Clarke joined from currency services provider Monex Europe, where he was head of foreign exchange and treasury sales for Asia Pacific.
AMERICAN CENTURY HIRES FIRST ASIA INTERMEDIARIES HEAD
US asset manager American Century Investments has hired Vicky Yick from Hong Kong fund house Value Partners as its first head of Asia intermediary business, in a moved tipped by AsianInvestor.
She started on October 21 to help tap the high-net-worth segment in Asia, as American Century had previously focused on institutional clients in the region, a spokesman said. Yick reports to Asia-Pacific head Tony Archer.
At Value Partners Yick had led private banking distribution. Value Partners did not respond to a request for comment.
Prior to that, she worked at French bank BNP Paribas as associate director of sales, equities and commodity derivatives.
WTW’S ASIA INVESTMENT STRATEGY HEAD GOES PART-TIME
Will Rainey, head of investment strategy for Asia at Willis Towers Watson, will move from Hong Kong to Vietnam to support the consultancy on a part-time basis.
“I’m still working with WTW from today but just materially reduced hours,” he told AsianInvestor. He will be living in Vietnam while starting a UK-based kids-teaching business.
Rainey will maintain a flexible work arrangement with WTW. There is no change in his role and he will continue to work closely with the investment team in Asia, a company spokeswoman said.
She declined to comment on who would help take care of part of Rainey’s duties under the new arrangement.
JLL EXPANDS CAPITAL MARKETS TEAM
US real estate broker JLL has appointed Theo Novak as head of international investments for Greater China, and Matthias Hoffmann as senior director for capital markets in Japan.
Both took up their newly created roles at the start of October, a spokeswoman told AsianInvestor.
Novak reports to Stuart Crow, chief executive of Asia-Pacific capital markets at JLL, and will relocate to Hong Kong from Singapore. Novak’s role was established in response to client demand for support in major cross-border transactions in Greater China and North Asia. These duties previously fell within Crow's remit.
Novak was previously an executive director of Asia-Pacific capital markets. He will retain his previous responsibilities, which include expanding the firm’s debt and capital raising capabilities in the region, but also manage relationships with Hong Kong-based institutional investors.
Based in Tokyo, Hoffmann is responsible for establishing capital partnerships with key clients and helping attract foreign investment into Japan. He reports to John Howald, Japan head of international capital markets, who had previously covered Hoffman's duties.
Hoffmann joined from Peterson Group, a Hong Kong-based property developer and public markets investor, where he was senior vice president, working on real estate investments. Peterson did not respond to requests for comment.
Hoffman's Linkedin page says he worked for Peterson between May 2016 and September 2019, and before that had worked at Singapore’s GIC in Europe and Peakside Capital.
IQ-EQ NAMES JAPAN DIRECTOR
Investor services firm IQ-EQ has named Hiroki Allen as director of funds for Japan, effectively immediately.
Based in Tokyo, Allen reports to Jimmy Leong, Asia-Pacific managing director in Singapore, and to JP Harrop, London-based group head of sales.
Allen’s role is a newly created one with a focus on alternative investments. His duties were previously looked after by Manabu Nagano, client services director for Japan, who will retain his original role, a spokeswoman for IQ-EQ said.
Allen joined from Bloomberg, where he was a senior relationship manager, his LinkedIn profile shows. Bloomberg declined to comment on Allen’s departure.
EFG SET TO LAUNCH DUBAI OPERATION
Swiss private bank EFG International expects to have a new advisory office up and running in Dubai by December 11.
Sascha Pietrek has joined from Deutsche Bank to head the new operation as of November 1. He reports to Adrian Kyriazi, EFG’s head of continental Europe and the Middle East, the bank said in a press release.
Having received regulatory approval from the Dubai Financial Services Authority for the new presence, EFG has already recruited 22 staff and expects the team to exceed 30 within the first year.
The Dubai operation aims to have reached Sfr3 billion ($3.04 billion) of assets under management by 2022, the release said.
Pietrek had worked at Deutsche Bank since 2001, most recently as managing director for the Middle East and Africa and market head for Saudi Arabia.
Other people news reported by AsianInvestor in the last week: