Pimco’s head of Asia-Pacific steps down

Pimco’s Asia-Pacific head Ki Myung (Kim) Hong has stepped down from his post in Hong Kong, AsianInvestor understands.

The California-based specialist bond house confirms that global chief operating officer Douglas Hodge – to whom Hong reported – will assume direct managerial responsibility for its Asia-Pacific operations on an interim basis.

“[Hong] has decided to retire, effective today,” a Pimco spokeswoman wrote in an email to AsianInvestor late last night.

Hodge will be picking up a role he held at Pimco for 10 years. He was Asia-Pacific head based in California at the turn of the century before relocating to run the region from Tokyo in 2002.

AsianInvestor interviewed Hodge in the pre-crisis boom year of 2007, when he was quoted as saying there would be a time when fixed income would be back in demand.

Hong had been hired as a managing director and Asia-Pacific head in July 2010, taking over from Hodge. He had management oversight of the firm’s regional offices in Hong Kong, Singapore, Sydney and Tokyo.

With 30 years’ financial services experience, Hong previously served as regional vice-chairman and Asia-Pacific president for Bank of America-Merrill Lynch, based in Hong Kong.

Prior to that he worked as Asia co-head of credit and rates for JP Morgan in Hong Kong. He has also held senior positions with Bankers Trust.

Pimco, founded in 1971 and owned by global insurance conglomerate Allianz, had $1.8 trillion in assets under management globally, of which $186 billion (10%) is sourced from Asia-Pacific, by AsianInvestor numbers. This makes it the 8th largest asset manager in Asia, according to our top 100 rankings.