Weekly roundup of people news, Aug 8
Morgan Stanley IM unveils first Asian debt head
Morgan Stanley Investment Management (MSIM) has named Michael Nolan as its first head of long-only Asian fixed income.
He moved from New York, where he was a senior managing director of fixed income, to take up the newly created role in Singapore. Nolan’s remit is to expand the firm’s institutional business.
Responsibility for Asian debt portfolios was previously shared across MSIM’s 72-strong global fixed income team, which is spread between New York, London and Singapore. The emerging market and US debt teams are also based in New York, while European fixed income is managed in London.
“There is a growing emphasis being placed on Asian bonds within the strategy and we are already witnessing the increasing liberalisation of the Asean markets, which are starting to undergo significant market reforms,” said Michael Kushma, chief investment officer of long-only global fixed income.
Nolan joined Morgan Stanley in 1989 in fixed income sales and trading. In 2005, he moved to MSIM, where he co-founded a group focused on quantitative investing, before joining the long-only fixed income team in 2010.
Northern Trust reshuffles executives
Fund administrator Northern Trust has appointed Peter Jordan as head of global fund services (GFS) for Asia.
Melbourne-based Jordan succeeds Camie West, who will return to Chicago to become head of strategic client relationships for GFS. She will be responsible for large global GFS clients.
Jordan was appointed in March as head of GFS for Australia and New Zealand, as reported. In his newly expanded role, he will report to Peter Cherecwich, head of GFS, and William Mak, Singapore-based head of Northern Trust for Asia Pacific.
Jordan, who joined Northern Trust in 1992, was previously chief administration officer for GFS in London prior to moving to Asia.
Goldman loses Hong Kong wealth head
Vivien Webb recently left Goldman Sachs, where she was head of private wealth management in Hong Kong, according to her LinkedIn profile. Her responsibilities are understood to have been spread among the rest of the wealth team.
Webb joined Goldman in April 2004 from HSBC Private Bank, where she had worked since April 2000, and before that she was at Chase Manhattan Private Bank, according to LinkedIn.
An industry source, who declined to be named, described the departure as a very significant move. “I’m unsure how they will replace her,” he added. “The bench is quite narrow at Goldman Sachs.”
Deloitte names investment group head
Deloitte Global has appointed Cary Stier as leader of its cross-functional investment management group. He will lead the IM practice globally and succeeds Stuart Opp, who passed away in April.
Stier is also a vice chairman of Deloitte in the US. Patrick Henry will succeed him as leader of Deloitte’s US investment management practice.
Stier will work closely with Jennifer Qin, audit partner-in-charge for private equity, venture capital funds and asset management clients in China.
Stier was named national managing partner of the US investment management practice in 2008.
The firm divides the IM practice into four areas: mutual funds, hedge funds, private equity and private wealth.
UBS WM Taiwan launches new wealth platform
Swiss’ UBS Wealth Management has named Chang Linyun as head of UBS Advice, a new wealth management unit in Taiwan, effective August 1.
Intended for those with at least $1 million in investable assets, the service allocates clients’ investments according to the bank’s house view. It was rolled out in Singapore and Hong Kong this year.
Chang joins from BlackRock, where he spent nearly 13 years and was most recently head of retail for Asia ex-Japan. He had also recently acted as an adviser for the US firm in Taiwan, before leaving in February.
Damien Mooney, previously managing director and Asia-Pacific chief marketing officer for BlackRock, was appointed in November last year to replace Chang, as reported. Previously based in Hong Kong, Chang returned to Taiwan to be closer to his family.
Vontobel Financial Products names Asia head
Swiss financial boutique Vontobel Financial Products has named Thomas Süssli as its new Asia head, to be effective October 1.
Süssli, who is currently based in Zurich and works at Credit Suisse in its external asset management business, will move to Singapore for the new role. He will report to Roger Studer, head of Vontobel’s investment banking business.
Süssli will replace Singapore-based Fredy Flury, who will return to his previous position in Vontobel's financial product risk management operation in Switzerland.
Additionally, Eugene Lee will become Asia-Pacific head of financial product sales and Deritrade MIP, the system the boutique uses for structuring and distributing products, on September 1. He will be based in Singapore.
Most recently Lee worked at KGI. Before that he had worked at JP Morgan, HSBC, BBVA and E Fund.
Lee will report to Süssli locally, but will also have functional reporting lines to Zurich for Deritrade MIP. The position is newly created, combining responsibilities for the sale of structured products and Deritrade MIP.
Vontobel Financial Products, part of the group’s investment bank, sells international structured products to institutional counterparties. The Swiss group also has separate asset management and private banking arms.
Hong Kong’s SFC appoints non-executive directors
The Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) has announced the appointment of William Wong and the re-appointment of Teresa Ko as non-executive directors for terms of two years effective August 1.
Ko, who joined the SFC's board on August 2012, is also a partner at law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer.
Wong replaces outgoing non-executive director Anderson Chow, who served as chairman of the Investor Compensation Company, a SFC subsidiary established to administer claims to the investor compensation fund.
Wong is a senior counsel at Hong Kong-based law firm Des Voeux Chambers.
Sidley Austin names private equity counsel
US law firm Sidley Austin has named Vivek Baid as counsel to the firm’s global private equity practice in Hong Kong.
He joined from law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, where he worked on cross-border private equity and M&A transactions, as well as growth equity investments, private investment in public equities, strategic alliances and joint ventures.
He has worked on transactions in China, Indonesia, the Philippines and India.
Other people news reported on AsianInvestor this week: