Weekly roundup of people news, Sept 23
BNY Mellon hires Credit Suisse veteran
BNY Mellon has appointed Alex Buerge as head of investments and managing director for the firm’s separately managed accounts (SMA) business, slated to launch later this year.
The firm says the SMA platform, which received a licence from Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission in June, is targeting private banking clients in the region.
Buerge is responsible for the design and development of the SMA platform and its investment products, as well as establishing a business strategy over the next several years.
Based in Hong Kong, he reports to AJ Harper, president and chief executive of the firm’s managed accounts business in Asia Pacific.
Buerge joins from Credit Suisse, where he worked in the Swiss firm’s multi-asset class solutions group. He held a number of senior positions during his 23-year career at the bank, spending time in both Switzerland and Singapore.
Private bank clients will be able to offer SMAs using BNY Mellon’s platform for their discretionary portfolios.
Eastspring names retail sales head
Eastspring Investments has hired Nathalie Lou as head of retail sales in Hong Kong. She is tasked with building up the retail and wholesale distribution presence in the city across local banks, financial advisers and other platform providers.
Lou joins from Macquarie Funds Group, where she was responsible for funds distribution across Asia Pacific. She previously worked in a similar capacity at both ING Investment Management and Franklin Templeton.
Eastspring, Prudential Asset Management's rebranded Asian business, had $94 billion in AUM as of June 30. It has offices in Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, the United Arab Emirates and Vietnam.
Macquarie did not respond to requests for comment by press time.
UBS makes senior appointments
UBS has made several senior appointments to its wealth management business in Hong Kong and its asset management arm in Sydney.
UBS Wealth Management has named LH Koh country team head for its newly created China team. Bryan Crawford will replace Koh as head of the international solutions group for Asia Pacific. Both appointments are effective October 1.
Koh joined UBS in 2010 as head of the corporate advisory group for Asia Pacific. The firm plans to make further announcements soon with regard to Koh’s new China team.
Crawford joined UBS in early 2012, focusing on the firm’s family office clients. He previously worked at Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan. Currently in London, Crawford will relocate to Hong Kong for his new role later this year.
UBS Global Asset Management, meanwhile, has promoted Bryce Doherty to head of Australasia from head of wholesale for Australasia. He replaces Ben Heap, who is leaving after three years with the firm. His future plans could not be ascertained. The bank did not respond to queries as to his destination by press time.
Doherty joined UBS in May 2011. He previously worked at BT Investment Management in wholesale and institutional sales and marketing.
Alistair Dunne replaces Doherty. Dunne joined in May 2012 as a managed funds sales manager.
BNP Paribas Investment Partners appoints distribution head
BNP Paribas Investment Partners (BNPP IP) has named Kylie Chan as head of distribution for Hong Kong and China.
Chan, who has been with BNP Paribas since 2007, oversees the firm’s Hong Kong team and works with consumer and private banks and insurance companies in an effort to strengthen the firm’s distribution presence.
She replaces Carol Wong, who will leave at the end of September after 15 years at the firm. A spokeswoman declined to comment on Wong's future plans.
Chan was previously vice president of distribution for Hong Kong at BNPP IP before taking on her new role. Before joining in 2007, she was an investment consultant at Citibank.
BNPP IP is the asset management arm of French bank BNP Paribas and had €478 billion ($646.8 billion) as of June 30.
Search firm makes acquisition
Global Sage, a headhunting firm specialising in financial services and insurance, has acquired Novo Group, a boutique search firm focused on global equity sales, research, asset management and hedge funds.
Five Novo Group employees join Global across in Hong Kong and London as part of the acquisition.
Global Sage has offices in Hong Kong, Johannesburg, London, New York, Singapore and Tokyo, and single representatives in Beijing, Jakarta and Seoul.
Novo’s founder and CEO, Sanjoy Sanyal, will join Global Sage as a managing director, and will continue to split his time between Hong Kong and London. Also joining Global Sage from Novo are Sandip Sanyal and Linus Choi. Sandip Sanyal previously headed Novo’s London office and joins Global Sage as a director in London, while Choi is now an associate director in Hong Kong.
Novo’s three-strong accounting and IT team, all based in Hong Kong, did not join Global Sage, as the firm already has support staff in place, a spokeswoman says.
The firm is mulling expanding its US presence, given that the hedge fund industry has posted decent performance this year, the spokeswoman says. The firm has no immediate plans to expand in Asia.
PineBridge hires former BNY Mellon CEO
Won Yoohee joined PineBridge Investments in Hong Kong on September 16 as managing director of business development for Asia.
AsianInvestor reported Won’s impending move to PineBridge last month. Won, previously Korea CEO at BNY Mellon Asset Management, was replaced there by Eugene Bang, formerly of Deutsche Asset Management, on August 19.
Won will target institutional investors in Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Singapore and Taiwan, and reports to Rajeev Mittal, PineBridge’s Asia-Pacific CEO.
Before BNY Mellon, Won previously worked at Samsung Investment Trust Management and Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance.
BNY Mellon established an asset management representative office in Seoul in 2006 to support its global investment management boutiques. Korea's Financial Services Commission approved its discretionary investment management licence in 2010, allowing the company to contract for discretionary investment management services with local financial institutions and professional investors.
PineBridge’s AUM stood at $68.4 billion on June 30.
Barclays taps two Nomura employees
Barclays has hired two Nomura employees for its property research team in Hong Kong.
The UK bank appointed Paul Louie as head of the property sector for Asia ex-Japan, while Alvin Wong joins as a director for the property sector, also covering Asia ex-Japan.
Louie is responsible for covering Hong Kong developers and landlords, while Wong focuses on China’s property sector. Wong reports to Louie, who in turn reports to Jon Scoffin, head of research for Asia Pacific.
At Nomura, Louie was Asia-Pacific head of property research with a focus on Hong Kong. Before that, he held similar positions at Lehman Brothers and UBS.
Wong had focused on the China property sector at Nomura, having held similar positions at HSBC and Bear Stearns.
Andrew Lawrence, who had covered Hong Kong property at Barclays for two years, left in January for Malaysian bank CIMB. The position had been vacant since Louie joined, while Wong’s position is newly created.
Nomura has not replaced Louie or Wong, but is believed to be seeking replacements for both. A Nomura spokesman declined to comment.
Morningstar names Asia research director
Morningstar Asia has hired Chan Wing as director of fund research from EFG Bank to oversee qualitative fund research in Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia and Taiwan.
Based in Hong Kong, Chan reports to Grant Kennaway, Morningstar’s head of Asia-Pacific fund research. Sunny Ng had held Chan's role previously, but left in March after 20 months with the firm. Kennaway looked after Ng's responsibilities in the interim.
Chan was previously an investment counsellor at EFG Bank, part of EFG International, a Swiss private banking group. Before that, he worked at Macquarie Private Bank.
Other moves reported in AsianInvestor this week: