TEMASEK INTERNATIONAL SHUFFLES SENIOR LEADERS

Temasek International (TI), the asset management arm of sovereign wealth fund Temasek, has named a new deputy chairman and deputy chief executive in a major shake-up of its leadership team.

TI CEO Lee Theng Kiat will take up the additional role of deputy chairman. Temasek's CEO Ho Ching will remain as the chairman of the asset management arm.

Dilhan Pillay is now the new deputy CEO at TI and supersedes his previously role of president.  He will continue to be the head of Americas, and joint head of the enterprise development group, the investment group, and Singapore.

Chia Song Hwee, president of TI, will take up the additional role of chief operating officer. He will continue to be the joint head of the company’s investment group, portfolio management group, and Singapore.

Tan Chong Lee, is now the new president at TI. He will continue to be head of Europe, Southeast Asia, as well as joint head of the portfolio management group.

The appointments were effective October 16 and the changes in leadership were made to prepare TI for “ its next phase of development as an active investor”, according to a statement on its official website. 

  • Chairman: Ho Ching
  • Deputy chairman: Lee Theng Kiat
  • CEO: Lee Theng Kiat
  • Deputy CEO: Dilhan Pillay
  • President: Chia Song Hwee, Tan Chong Lee
  • COO: Chia Song Hwee

Temasek International said the positions of deputy chairman, deputy CEO and COO were newly created. 

FULLERTON APPOINTS CEO

Fullerton Fund Management, the wholly-owned subsidiary of Singaporean state investor Temasek, has appointed former Amundi Southeast Asia chief executive Jenny Sofian as its new CEO, effective on November 1.

Sofian replaces Manraj Sekhon, the former Fulllerton CEO and chief investment officer who left the firm in November last year. Fullerton chairman Ho Tian-Yee assumed his responsibilities in the interim. Patrick Yeo, head of fixed income, was promoted to the CIO role the same month.

Sofian left her post at Amundi following the French fund house's acquisition of Pioneer Investments. Jack Lin, previously head of Asia-Pacific and the Middle East at Pioneer, was named head of Southeast Asia for the newly merged entity, Amundi Pioneer, in July.

LOMBARD ODIER HIRES ASIA HEAD OF FAMILY SERVICES  

Lombard Odier has poached a head of family services for Asia from rival Union Bancaire Privée (UBP).

Effective October 16, Lee Wong (pictured) has taken up the role of head of family services, Asia at the Swiss private bank. She reports to Vincent Magnenat, CEO of Asia. Both of them are based in Singapore.

Wong’s role is a replacement for Seema Bhayat, who was previously deputy head of private banking Asia and head of wealth planning Asia. Bhayat moved to take up a new role as local managing director of Lombard Odier in Tokyo last month.

Wong was previously the head of wealth planning for South Asia at UBP. A company spokeswoman declined to say whether UBP had found a replacement yet. 

SSGA APPOINTS APAC COMPLIANCE HEAD 

State Street Global Advisors (SSGA) has hired a new head of compliance for Asia Pacific from Aberdeen Asset Management.

Effective October 9, Juanita Li is responsible for SSGA’s compliance oversight programme in the region. 

Hong Kong-based Li reports to Boston-based chief compliance officer Alyssa Albertelli, and locally to June Wong, head of Asia ex Japan at SSGA. She oversees a team of 12 people across Asia Pacific, according to a company spokeswoman.

This is a newly created role covering SSGA’s entire Asia Pacific region. Previously, the compliance functions for Australia, Asia Ex-Japan and Japan were covered separately. The heads of compliance in Australia and Japan will now report to Li, while the role of head of compliance Asia ex-Japan no longer exists under the new structure. The previous incumbent in that role, Daisy Won, left to become an independent consultant in May.

Li was previously the head of compliance Hong Kong for the Aberdeen Asset Management, which has combined with Standard Life Investments to become Aberdeen Standard Investments in August.

Mandie Tong, Aberdeen Standard Investments' deputy chief risk officer Asia Pacific has now assumed the head of compliance role for both the heritage Aberdeen AM and Standard Life Investments Hong Kong entities, according to a company spokeswoman. 

LEGAL FIRM HIRES DUO FOR PE PRACTICE IN HONG KONG

Legal firm Goodwin has hired Douglas Freeman and Victor Chen as partners for the firm’s international private equity practice in its Hong Kong office effective October 19.

Both join from another legal firm, Paul Hastings, where they were partners. They left on October 16.

A spokeswoman for Paul Hastings declined to comment on the departures. 

Freeman’s practice has focused on representing public and private companies, private equity firms and investment banking firms in connection with mergers and acquisitions, public offerings and corporate transactions

Chen has experience in advising private equity, venture and institutional investors in their Greater China and US transactions, and has also been active in listed-companies-going-private deals.

A spokesman for the firm said the hires are new roles on its international private equity platform.

AMP CAPITAL NAMES INSTITUTIONAL DIRECTOR IN DUBAI

Australian investment manager AMP Capital has appointed Sudhanshu Garg as institutional director at its newly opened representative office in Dubai.

Garg (pictured left) will be responsible for promoting AMP’s real assets capabilities to its regional clients, as part of the company’s growth efforts in the Middle East, the company announced on October 18.

Garg will report to Tim Smith, AMP’s capital head of distribution, north west region, which encompasses the UK, Europe, Middle East, India, and North America, said a company spokeswoman. She was unable to confirm when he would start his duties.

He takes over from now-retired managing director of Europe, Middle East, and North Africa Richard Shields, who held a similar role to Garg, the spokeswoman said.

Most recently, Garg managed a now-defunct Dubai-based consultancy advising on investment product development and product structuring, said the spokeswoman. He was also executive director and head of institutional sales, derivatives, and structured products in Middle East and North Africa at RBS, and SVP and head of investments and bancassurance business, consumer banking, at ABN Amro Bank, according to his LinkedIn profile.

STYLE RESEARCH NAMES NEW EXECUTIVES IN REGIONAL EXPANSION

UK-based investment analytics and portfolio communications firm Style Research has appointed two new regional executives as part of its expansion efforts in Asia Pacific.

Effective October 17, Jamie Spark (pictured) will be the managing director for the region, and CJ Zou will be client relationship manager of Asia Pacific, a company spokesman said. New Style Research offices in Melbourne and Tokyo will open that same day, the spokesman added.

Spark will be based in Melbourne, and he reports to Style Research chief executive Kirsten English, according to the spokesman, while Zou will report to Spark from the Tokyo office.

Both are newly created roles, responsible for growing the firm’s footprint in Asia Pacific and managing solutions to meet the needs of their regional clients, said the spokesman, adding that their duties were previously covered by a combination of UK and US-based offices and local consultants.

Spark was most recently head of relationship management at Australian fintech company OneVue Group, according to his LinkedIn profile. He has also served as a director at Australian fund manager One Investment Group, chief executive at share registry ShareBPO, and the chief operating officer at fund administrator FundBPO. In addition Spark was previously a director of business development at Republic Investment Management, director of sales and relationship management at RBC Dexia Investor Services, director of sales and relationship management at ANZ Custodian Services, and VP at Citi.

Zou was most recently a local consultant for Style Research, after being head of marketing and sales at quantitative investment tools provider Quant Shop in Tokyo.

OneVue Group did not respond to AsianInvestor queries by press time.

INDOSUEZ WM HIRES NRI PRIVATE BANKER

Indosuez Wealth Management in Singapore has appointed a new senior executive.

Vignesh Ravindran took up the newly created role of director of the non-resident Indian (NRI) division of Indosuez WM last month as the wealth manager seeks to strengthen client coverage. His duties will entail relationship management, a spokesman said.

He reports to managing director and team head, Shiladitya Choudhuri. Both are based in Singapore.

Ravindran was previously the Singapore-based executive manager at Westpac, according to his LinkedIn profile. Westpac Singapore cannot be reached for comment by press time. 

Other people news reported on AsianInvestor in the past week:

Wave of young state funds seeks investment partners