Okita departs EFG, Nigel Sze takes over

Bradley Okita has left EFG Asset Management after 18 months on the job as its Asia head of business. His last day was Friday, June 8.

Hong Kong-based Okita confirmed to AsianInvestor that he has just left the company but declined to comment further. A spokesman for EFG says he has been with the firm for 18 months but left to pursue other opportunities.

EFG has appointed Nigel Sze (pictured) to run the region for its asset management business. He has been with the parent company, wealth manager EFG Bank, where he has served as deputy CEO for Asia and head of private banking in Hong Kong.

Sze reports to Jim Lee, CEO of EFG-AM in London. Calls to Sze were not returned by press time.

Okita joined EFG-AM in January 2011. His Asia career began in 2004 when he joined Lehman Brothers Asset Management as head of strategy and development for Europe and Asia, a role that began in London but saw him move to Hong Kong.

He remained with the same team when it spun out as Neuberger Berman in 2008, in which he was head of Asia ex-Japan. He left that post in 2010.

Although EFG’s private bank has been active in Asia, the asset management business is relatively new. The firm runs about $7 billion, primarily from London and Geneva. Of that, about $1 billion is for third-party clients, and the majority for the parent bank’s wealthy investors.

Okita was charged with building a regional asset-management business, including both salespeople as well as investment professionals. The firm has investment teams in Hong Kong and Singapore, including the recent addition of Mansfield Mok to establish an Asian equities capability.

In addition to naming Sze to the business head role, EFG-AM has also promoted Harmen Overdijk as head of investments, responsible for discretionary portfolio management services across the region. He too joins from the private bank, where he’s worked since 2008.