Weekly roundup of people news, Oct 10
HKIFA appoints new chair and committee
The Hong Kong Investment Funds Association (HKIFA) has appointed Bruno Lee of Fidelity Investment Management and Terry Pan of JP Morgan Asset Management as chairman and vice chairman, respectively.
Lee takes over from Lieven Debruyne, chief executive for Hong Kong at Schroder Investment Management, who had chaired the trade body from September 2013.
Lee is the Asia ex-Japan head of retail for Fidelity Worldwide Investment. Based in Hong Kong, he is responsible for growing the firm’s personal investing business, focusing on Hong Kong and Taiwan.
Before rejoining Fidelity in January 2012 in his current role, he was HSBC’s Asia head of wealth management since 2006. Prior to that Lee had been Invesco’s chief executive for Taiwan since 2003. He had first joined Fidelity in 1991 and went on to hold various posts in Hong Kong and Taiwan at the firm.
Pan is head of JP Morgan AM’s Hong Kong and China qualified domestic institutional investor business. He is primarily responsible for fund distribution.
In 2003, he joined JP Morgan AM as head of intermediary sales and was later promoted to head of retail business in Hong Kong and Macau, a position he held for four years before taking up his current role.
Before that, in 2000 he joined Pacific Century CyberWorks’ online broker 2cube Securities as vice president for sales. The firm closed the following year and Pan joined Hutchison Credit Suisse First Boston as sales director.
He began his career in 1994 at JP Morgan AM and held roles across functions including client advisory services, investment communications and marketing.
For a full list of committee members for 2014-15, click here.
Natixis Global AM hires Taiwan head
Natixis Global Asset Management (NGAM) has appointed Alex Chang as head of Taiwan. He started in the role on September 15 and reports to Japan head Kinji Kato.
Chang is tasked with leading the firm’s Taiwanese business initiatives across the institutional, wholesale and retail channels.
He joins from ING Funds Taiwan, where he held several roles, including head of direct sales and acting head of the banking channel. As of press time, AsianInvestor could not ascertain when he joined ING Funds or whether he had been or would be replaced.
Alex Chang replaces Michael Chang, who will relocate to Singapore this month to become director of institutional services for Asia at Loomis Sayles, an affiliate of NGAM.
NGAM is on a drive to penetrate the wholesale retail markets in Asia.
In Hong Kong, three Ucits fixed income funds have been submitted for regulatory approval, and the firm hopes to bring them to market by the end of the year. They would join five equity funds already available there. The firm plans to register another five or six funds after that.
In the Lion City, it has 16 retail products and seven for accredited investors, and it expects this number to rise.
NGAM joins a raft of other firms that are setting up or building out in Hong Kong with an eye on accessing the Rmb100 trillion-plus ($16.3 trillion) of deposits in China via the incoming cross-border mutual recognition scheme for funds.
BlackRock, Franklin Templeton and Vanguard are three other examples of firms building out their Hong Kong-domiciled fund ranges.
NGAM had $930.5 billion in AUM globally, of which $30.6 billion is managed for Asian institutional investors.
Avenue Capital hires duo from PAG
New York-headquartered investment firm Avenue Capital Group has appointed Anil Gorthy and Dan Galanter to lead its Avenue Asia Strategy. They will start at the firm at the end of December, both joining from Hong Kong-based alternatives manager Pacific Alliance Group (PAG).
Gorthy will be senior portfolio manager, and Galanter’s remit will be business development, strategy and management. As of press time, AsianInvestor could not ascertain whether the roles were newly created or whether the pair had been replaced at PAG.
The Avenue Asia Strategy focuses on distressed and undervalued corporate debt, special situations investments, performing/restructured debt, alternative financing and non-performing loans.
New York-based Mark Harris will continue with the Asia Strategy as a portfolio manager. He joined ACG in 2006.
ACG intends to raise a new Avenue Asia Fund over the coming year, said CEO and co-founder Marc Lasry.
Gorthy was previously senior portfolio manager of the Asia special situations strategy at PAG. Prior to joining PAG in 2009, he worked in Deutsche Bank’s Asia-Pacific distressed products group.
Galanter had been head of business development at PAG for six years.
As of August 31, Avenue Capital managed some $1 billion under the Avenue Asia Strategy.
Bennelong names national account manager
Australia’s Bennelong Funds Management has appointed Zac Wallis to the newly created role of national account manager, effective October 27.
The position was created to strengthen the sales team and reinforce Bennelong’s distribution strategy. Based in Sydney, Wallis will report to Andrew Aitken, head of distribution.
Wallis has worked at Zurich Investments for the past four years as account and research manager, responsible for growing the firm’s relationships with research houses and national dealer groups.
The Bennelong group comprises four boutiques: Avoca Investment Management (Australian small-cap equities), Bennelong Australian Equity Partners (large-caps), Bennelong Long Short Equity Management (market-neutral hedge funds) and Kardinia Capital (absolute-return hedge fund).
Aitken told AsianInvestor: “Zac will contribute to the business development function across all channels, but in particular the national accounts and research relationships.”
The firm has A$5.8 billion ($5 billion) in funds under management.
Before joining Zurich he worked from 2007 to 2011 as research analyst and exchange-traded fund strategist at Morningstar, also in Sydney.
Prior to that, he was from 2004 to 2007 an accountant at UHY Haines Norton in Canberra.
Last month, Bennelong announced the appointment of Craig Bingham as chief executive, effective October 20.
Before joining Bennelong, he was he was non-executive chairman at property investment firm Forza Capital. Prior to taking on the Forza role in January 2013, he was Asia-Pacific CEO of financial services firm Federated Investors, according to his LinkedIn profile.
Before that, he was from January 2001 to September 2011 Asia-Pacific CEO of Aviva Investors.
The acquisition of new teams and expansion of its distribution footprint, both domestically and globally, are the business’s main focus.
Jersey Finance appoints director, opens Shanghai office
Trade body Jersey Finance has appointed Zhang Yumei as business development director in Hong Kong and set up an office in Shanghai.
Zhang joins from the Louvre Group, a Guernsey-headquartered fiduciary and fund services provider that she joined in January 2007, according to her LinkedIn profile, most recently heading its Hong Kong office.
Cally Ching has replaced Zhang at Louvre Group, joining from fund services firm Intertrust.
Before joining Louvre, Zhang was a senior analyst at the Guernsey Financial Services Commission from November 2001 to December 2006.
Jersey Finance opened the Shanghai office in conjunction with the China Britain Business Council. Garry Zhao has been appointed project manager. He joined from the treasury team at Chinese conglomerate Fosun Group, where he worked from April 2012.
Before that he had been a senior relationship manager at Singapore’s Overseas Chinese Banking Corporation.
The Shanghai office provides Jersey Finance with a platform for business development in China. The body is on a drive to raise awareness of Jersey amongst institutional investors and strengthen its governmental and regulatory links.
The firm intends to take a roadshow to Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore in November, with the aim of tapping the growing flow of outbound investment from China, said CEO Geoff Cook.
This April, the Jersey Financial Services Commission and China Securities Regulatory Commission signed an MoU as a precursor to including Jersey-domiciled funds in China’s Qualified Foreign Institutional Investor and Qualified Domestic Institutional Investor programmes.
Jersey Finance opened its Hong Kong office in October 2009.
Formed in May 2011, the body is a non-profit making organisation jointly funded by members of Jersey’s financial services industry and the island’s government.
ICI Global names chief counsel
The Investment Company Institute has named Susan Olson to the newly created position of chief counsel of ICI Global, its international arm. She has been ICI’s senior counsel for international affairs since March 2007.
The new role was created as part of a reorganisation of the institute’s international activities, including for non-US funds.
Based in Washington, DC, Olson reports to Dan Waters, the London-based managing director of ICI Global, and will also work in the London office. She will also work closely with Qiumei Yang, Hong Kong-based chief executive of Asia Pacific for ICI Global.
The institute operates offices in Hong Kong, London and Washington, DC.
ICI is an association representing managers of funds in the US and similar funds offered to investors in jurisdictions worldwide.
Its US fund members manage total assets of $17.2 trillion and serve more than 90 million US shareholders. Non-US fund members manage total assets of $1.5 trillion.
Other people news reported by AsianInvestor this week:
NPS unveils plans to ramp up portfolio team
BlackRock replaces iShares Asia chief
CIFM names new HK chief, eyes global expansion
BlackRock names multi-asset head for Asia
BlackRock replaces Asia head of alternatives