CPIC AM HIRES GENERAL MANAGER
China Pacific Insurance Company’s asset management arm has obtained regulatory approval to appoint Chen Lin as its general manager, the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission said. The fund arm mostly manages money for its insurance parent.
Chen was previously the chairman at Hwabao Securities, a Shanghai-based asset manager.
Yu Yeming, the chairman and general manager at CPIC Asset Management, will retain his role after Chen takes up the role of general manager, according to media reports.
CPIC AM declined to comment on Chen's appointment, while Hwabao Securities could not be reached for comment.
M&G TAPS EASTSPRING FOR NEW ASIA HEAD
UK fund house M&G Investments has hired Loretta Ng from Eastspring Investments as its new head of Asia, effective November 1.
Ng has been the Taiwan chief executive at Eastspring – which, like M&G, is part of British insurance group Prudential – since 2011. She will replace Alex Jeffery at M&G, after he left to join Savills Investment Management in April this year.
Janelle Yeo, head of corporate strategy and chief of staff at Eastspring, will act as interim CEO until a replacement is found for Ng, a spokeswoman said. Yeo joined the firm in 2008 and was chief financial officer for Taiwan for five years, where she worked closely with Ng, the spokeswoman added.
Ng spent 19 years at Eastspring, including as chief marketing officer for Taiwan and Singapore head of product, marketing and business operations. She also sat on the board of Eastspring’s asset management joint venture in China for three years.
Ng’s exit marks another senior departure from Eastspring, which has seen substantial staff turnover in the past couple of years.
Prudential is set to demerge its UK operations from its Asia and US businesses on October 21.
CSOP OPENS SINGAPORE OFFICE
CSOP Asset Management has set up a new office in Singapore on Wednesday (October 16). The firm aims to broaden its presence with Singapore as the regional base. It has an initial focus to build family office and external asset management businesses, and to distribute investment management solutions to institutional clients.
The Singapore office will offer traditional long-only equities, high yield fixed income strategies and China access strategies. It will also explore Shariah-compliant investments.
The firm’s spokeswoman told AsianInvestor that CSOP expects to place 10 staff in the new office, with Ding Chen, the firm's chief executive, heading the new office.
Five executives are currently based in Singapore, including one portfolio manager, one compliance officer and three distribution executives. All strategies will be led from the Hong Kong office while the firm seeks to expand the portfolio management team.
HONG KONG SFC CEO TO STEP DOWN
Ashley Alder, chief executive at the Securities and Futures Commission in Hong Kong, has decided not to seek to renew his contact when it expires on September 30 next year.
Alder has been at the helm of the SFC for eight years. The government will commence a global search to identify a new CEO for the SFC, a company spokeswoman said.
KKR NAMES ASIA-PACIFIC CO-HEADS
US alternative investment giant KKR has promoted Hiro Hirano and Ashish Shastry to co-heads of its Asia-Pacific private equity business.
They report to Lu Ming, head of Asia Pacific, who had previously been co-head of Asia PE before rising to his current role in 2016. David Liu had been the other co-head but left the firm in 2016 to set up another PE business.
Hirano joined KKR in 2013 as chief executive of the firm’s Tokyo-based Japan operations, a role he retains alongside his new post. He previously managed Nikko Cordial Group’s investment arm and rose to become chairman.
KKR hired Shastry in 2016 to lead its Southeast Asian operations after he had worked as a managing partner at Singapore-based private equity firm Northstar Group. Before that, he had spent 13 years at PE giant TPG Capital.
T. ROWE PRICE NAMES AUSTRALIA/NZ HEAD OF CONSULTANTS
US fund house T. Rowe Price has appointed Cassandra Crowe as head of consultants for Australia and New Zealand.
Based in Sydney, Crowe works with the business development and investment teams to engage with consultants and other parties that underpin the retail and institutional markets in Australia and New Zealand.
She reports to Nick Slater, London-based head of consultant relations for Europe, Middle East and Africa and Asia Pacific.
Crowe role is newly created, and her duties were previously looked after by Slater, said a company spokeswoman.
Crowe was previously Sydney-based head of research relationships at retirement solutions provider Allianz Retire+, part of Germany's Allianz group. She left the copmany in August and was replaced by Tim Dowling, a company spokesman said.
CBRE GETS APAC CAPITAL MARKETS HEAD FROM RIVAL
US real estate broker CBRE appointed Greg Hyland will join CBRE to head its Asia-Pacific capital markets division on October 15. Hyland is based in Singapore.
Rob Blain, executive chairman for Asia Pacific, previously oversaw the Asia-Pacific capital markets business.
Hyland reports to Chris Ludeman, CBRE’s global president of capital markets, and Martin Samworth, who runs capital markets for Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
Before joining CBRE, Hyland was Singapore head of capital markets at rival property broker JLL, where had had worked for 13 years.
Ting Lim has replaced Hyland at JLL, having been promoted from her position as executive director for capital markets. Lim was announced as Hyland's replacement on August 8 during his notice period.
Based in Singapore, Lim reports to Stuart Crow, chief executive of JLL Asia Pacific Capital Markets, and Chris Fossick, Southeast Asia CEO at JLL.
BNP PARIBAS NAMES WM CO-CEOs
BNP Paribas has appointed Andy Chai and Arnaud Tellier as co-chief executives for wealth management for Asia Pacific, effective October 8.
They replaced Pierre Vrielinck, Asia-Pacific CEO. He will return to France in December for a senior leadership role in wealth management.
Based in Hong Kong, Chai will retain his role as head of wealth management for Greater China.
Tellier was previously head of wealth management for Singapore and Southeast Asia and relocates to Hong Kong for his new position.
He will be succeeded by David Lim, who reports to Tellier and to Joris Dierckx, head of Southeast Asia and Singapore chief executive, a BNP Paribas spokeswoman told AsianInvestor.
Chai and Tellier report to Vincent Lecomte, Paris-based co-CEO of BNP Paribas Wealth Management, and to Eric Raynaud, Hong Kong-based Asia-Pacific group CEO.
ST JAMES'S PLACE HIRES SINGAPORE PARTNER
St James's Place Wealth Management has appointed David Agar as a partner in Singapore in October, according to his Linkedin profile.
A spokesman at London-based St James's Place said Agar has been brought on as a partner for "providing holistic face-to-face financial advice and wealth planning to international and Singaporean clients". He did not specify who had been in charge of this role prior to Agar.
Before joining St James's Place, Agar worked as head of the investment research team at AAM Advisory in Singapore for nine years. A spokesman confirmed that Agar left at the end of September and that AAM is seeking a replacement.
Prior to AAM, Agar worked at financial adviser Monpelier Group in Kuala Lumpur.
