BNY Mellon names new Korea IM chief

US firm BNY Mellon has appointed Eugene Bang from Deutsche Bank as the new head of its Korean investment management business based in Seoul.

Bang started in his new role on August 19. He oversees the investment management unit within BNY's 60-strong team in the capital that also supports its investment services business.

His responsibilities include consulting and liaison with regulatory and industry participants, as well as conducting market research and analysis and assessing potential opportunities in the Korean market.

Bang’s appointment follows the departure earlier this year of Yoohee Won, who is about to join PineBridge Investments in Hong Kong on the business development side, AsianInvestor understands. A spokeswoman for PineBridge declined to confirm or deny the appointment.

Bang reports to Alan Harden, chief executive of BNY Mellon’s Asia-Pacific investment management business.

BNY Mellon established an asset management representative office in Seoul in 2006 to support the company’s global investment management boutiques.

The Korean Financial Services Commission (FSC) approved its discretionary investment management (DIM) licence in 2010.

The licence allows the company to contract for discretionary investment management services with local financial institutions and professional investors.

Prior to joining BNY Mellon, Bang was a director and country manager for Deutsche Asset Management’s mutual funds business DWS from June 2010 until earlier this year.

Before Deutsche AM, Bang worked at Fidelity Investment Korea for nine years, where he performed a number of roles including head of wholesale and head of institutional sales.

Deutsche Bank’s former asset and wealth management business in Korea consisted of three areas: its retail business DWS; its institutional business DB Advisor; and its real estate business REEF.

However, following a global reorganisation in which the firm looked at selling its business, it scrapped these three units. In Korea it now operates by product, active and passive investments, alternatives and real estate under the Deutsche Bank brand.

As a result, Bang was not replaced as head of DWS. The bank did announce the appointment of Sung Eun Ahn as its chief country officer for Korea in March. He started in that role at the start of last month.

BNY Mellon has been on an aggressive buildout since Harden’s arrival in 2011, and the former CEO of ING Investment Management has spoken about his plans.

Earlier this month AsianInvestor broke the news that BNY Mellon had hired two more managing directors, Stuart Guinness and Richard Collis for mutual funds and insurance and pension product development, respectively.

The two new arrivals follow the hire of managing director Albert Yeh and the firm’s announcement of plans to launch a separately managed account platform in Hong Kong, both in July. It is also looking to build its Asia distribution business.

BNY Mellon had $1.39 trillion in assets under management globally as at the end of last year, of which $49.4 billion, or 3.6%, was sourced from Asia Pacific, by AsianInvestor numbers. It does not break out its Korean numbers separately.