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AsianInvestor’s weekly roundup of job-hoppers, May 25

Perpetual reshuffles, BlackRock finds Australia head, Henderson hires from Challenger, Asia sales director exits Martin Currie, BTIG adds sales traders, and Falcon hires Hong Kong head.
AsianInvestor’s weekly roundup of job-hoppers, May 25

Perpetual reshuffles after CEO switch
Australia-listed asset manager Perpetual announced the appointment of Mark Smith as group CEO of Perpetual Private, its $8.1 billion arm, including private client, fiduciary and philanthropy businesses.

He is set to start in the role later this year. It comes after Geoff Lloyd, who was group executive of Perpetual Private and head of its retail distribution, was promoted to CEO this February – the firm’s third chief in two years.

Earlier this year AsianInvestor reported that Chris Ryan had stepped down as Perpetual CEO over a strategy disagreement after less than a year in the role.

Domestic media are expecting Lloyd to outline a new strategic blueprint for the company soon featuring cost reductions and a revised sales and distribution focus. It has been reported the firm suffered net outflows for the past fiscal year of $3.7 billion. Perpetual had previously outlined to AsianInvestor its plans to penetrate the Asia ex-Japan marketplace.

Previously Smith spent 19 years at wealth manager BT, having led teams in sales, distribution and operations across product lines including life insurance, funds management and the wrap business.

Most recently he was general manager of bank distribution and insurance, cross-selling BT Financial Group’s advice, superannuation and insurance solutions to customers of Westpac.

CEO of Victorian government’s funds arm joins BlackRock
BlackRock announced the appointment of Justin Arter from Victorian Funds Management Corporation (VFMC) as its new country head for Australia.

Arter is not due to start until September, when he will become a member of BlackRock’s Asia-Pacific executive committee and report to chairman Mark McCombe. In the interim, the firm’s head of scientific investments, Michael McCorry, will act as country head.

Currently Arter is serving as CEO of VFMC, the A$35 billion fund management arm of the Victorian government, which he joined in 2009.

He will come in to replace Damien Frawley, who earlier this year was appointed chief executive of the Queensland Investment Corporation, with BlackRock saying he moved to be closer to family.

Prior to VFMC Arter spent 18 years with Goldman Sachs JB Were, where his roles included head of research and head of institutional equities, as well as management responsibilities in strategy and proprietary trading.

As at March 31, BlackRock had $3.7 trillion in assets under management globally. By AsianInvestor numbers it is the second largest asset manager in Asia-Pacific with $362.7 billion as at the end of last year. Its Australia business has A$45 billion.

Henderson seeks to grow Asia-Pacific footprint
Henderson Global Investors has hired Challenger Funds Management CEO Rob Adams to spearhead its investment management business in Australia as it strives to grow its Asia-Pacific footprint.

Adams will be responsible for developing and directing business strategy, with additional hires to be announced in due course.

The Australian and UK-listed fund manager lists high-value markets in the region as China, Japan and Australia.

Most recently Adams was chief executive at Challenger Funds Management, a division of ASX-listed Challenger Limited, which he joined in 2003. Challenger recently told AsianInvestor it is eyeing Asia assets in response to a diversification drive by the country’s superannuation funds industry.

Prior to that he spent over a decade at Colonial First State Investments, where he was responsible for sales, marketing and product development activities. Latterly he was CEO of its UK business.

Martin Currie loses Asia sales director
Jean-Luc Eyssautier exited his role last week as sales and client services director for Asia at UK fund house Martin Currie and is currently on gardening leave.

Based in Singapore, he had been responsible for selling to intermediaries such as private banks, and was the firm’s only salesperson in Asia Pacific outside Australia.

Eyssautier has been with Martin Currie a little over a year, having joined around March last year to replace Chen Ee-Fang, who had left for Northern Trust in October 2010.

Prior to that, Eyssautier was Hong Kong-based director of funds distribution for Asia at Axa Investment Managers, a role he moved from France to take up in mid-2009, as first reported by AsianInvestor.

At Martin Currie he had reported to Kimon Kouryialas, Asia-Pacific head in Sydney. Kouryialas was unavailable for comment by press time.

BTIG hires in equity trading in HK, Singapore
Agency institutional broker BTIG Asia-Pacific announced a string of hires in the areas of institutional sales and sales trading, across Hong Kong and Singapore.

The affiliated entity of BTIG LLC has hired Matthew Ruddick from Mizuho Securities and Guy Robertson from Knight Capital as vice-president and executive director of equity sales in Hong Kong, respectively.

Further, Neil Newman joins from MF Global as vice-president of sales trading; and Fabiano Mascolo, also from MF Global, has been appointed vice-president of sales trading, as has Gustino DeMarco, who was most recently with KE Absolute. All are based in Hong Kong.

In Singapore, BTIG announced the appointments of Edward Strover as executive director of equity sales and Andrew Millward as vice-president of sales trading.

Strover joins from Knight Capital in Hong Kong, where he was head of sales for Asian equities, while Millward was formerly at Commonwealth Bank of Australia.

BTIG says it now has 25 sales traders working across the region, split into three teams for Japan, Australia and Asia ex-Japan. Just over a year ago it announced the hire of a senior quartet and laid out plans to expand its traditional stock-broking platform in the region.

New private bank head in Hong Kong for Falcon
Falcon Private Bank announced it had appointed Lousiana Cheung as executive director and head of private banking in Hong Kong.

She joins to lead the Greater China team covering private banking and client relationships, having been with Falcon (formerly AIG Private Bank) since 2001. She reports to James Mok, MD and branch manager for Falcon Private Bank Hong Kong.

Before this latest appointment she was in charge of the firm’s private banking business in Taiwan. She began her career in 1987 working for the Royal Bank of Canada. She moved to HSBC Private Bank in 1999 as vice-president.

Other people moves reported in the past week by AsianInvestor:

Macquarie IM replaces head of Asia distribution

EFG AM hires GAM China manager

 

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