Weekly roundup of people news, Oct 18
Morgan Stanley poaches UBS sales head
Morgan Stanley has hired Ernest Chan, formerly Hong Kong head of sales and distribution at UBS, as Asia head of managed products based in Hong Kong, effective in December.
The hire is part of Morgan Stanley’s initiative to expand its funds unit. The US investment bank aims to build up its fee-based income business by integrating discretionary, long-only and alternative fund products and is also on a push to add third-party managers as well as expand its in-house capabilities.
Morgan Stanley merged its private wealth management (PWM) Asia business with its market strategies and investments (MSI) group. Now, all cash, derivative and structured products are covered under MSI, according to internal memos.
Chan previously spent six years as Hong Kong head of investment fund sales and distribution at UBS Wealth Management in Hong Kong. Before that, he worked at JP Morgan Private Bank.
In addition, Vincent Chui, head of institutional equities distribution at Morgan Stanley, will take on the additional role of Asia head of private wealth management. He takes on the latter role from Charlie Mak, who has retired after 20 years with the firm.
Jimmy Chiu has replaced Chan at UBS as Hong Kong head of fund sales and distribution, a spokeswoman says. He had been with UBS since 2008 as an investment funds specialist and deputy head of fund sales and distribution Hong Kong.
Henderson snares UBS executive
Henderson Global Investors has hired UBS Global Asset Management global bond head Rob Gambi as chief investment officer.
Gambi remains in London and will join Henderson in early 2014 to spearhead the firm’s growth initiatives, which include expanding its investment capabilities in equities, fixed income, absolute return and multi-asset across Asia and the US. He will report to CEO Andrew Formica.
The CIO position at Henderson Global has been vacant since David Jacob stepped down in January 2013. Jacob remains vice chairman at the UK firm, a spokeswoman says.
However, the spokeswoman claims Gambi is not a direct replacement, as he will oversee both equities and fixed income, whereas Jacob just focused on fixed income, without giving further details.
Gambi will have five direct reports: head of equities Graham Kitchen; head of fixed income Jim Irvine; head of multi-asset Bill McQuaker; head of private equity Priscilla Davies; and head of trading Andrew Munro.
Gambi spent 13 years as global head of fixed income at UBS Global AM in London, and was responsible for $230 billion in assets. It is understood that the Swiss firm has begun a search to replace him. UBS declined to comment.
Henderson Global managed £67.9 billion ($109.6 billion) as of June 30, with £3.1 billion sourced in Asia Pacific from both institutional and retail investors. Forty-five people work in Henderson’s Asian headquarters in Singapore. It also has offices in Beijing, Hong Kong, New Delhi, Sydney and Tokyo.
Credit Suisse adds to Greater China wealth team
Credit Suisse Private Banking has named Luo Liuyi as one of its six Greater China market leaders. Based in Hong Kong, she reports to Tee Fong Seng, market area head for Greater China.
In the newly created role, Luo will drive business development in the mainland. She doesn’t have direct reports yet, but has mandate to build a team, the spokeswoman says, declining to offer more details.
Luo was previously head of the ultra-high-net-worth management team at China International Capital Corporation (CICC) Hong Kong Securities. Before that, she worked at Goldman Sachs’ private wealth management division in Hong Kong from 2001 through 2009.
CICC could not be reached for comment by press time.
Law firm names partner in Beijing
White & Case has promoted David Li to partner in its global banking practice in Beijing. He specialises in private and public equity matters, as well as debt financing, focused mainly on China-related transactions.
White & Case has also promoted 17 other lawyers to partnership status across in Frankfurt, London, Mexico City, Miami, Moscow, New York, Sao Paulo, Singapore, Warsaw and Washington DC.
Other people news reported in AsianInvestor this week:
Nikko AM buys Treasury Asia, sparking reshuffle
Vietnam's first open-ended fund set for launch
State Street AIS to open in Shanghai in regional push
Saif Partners hedge fund launch imminent