Weekly roundup of people news, Nov 27
DBS replaces deputy consumer, wealth head
Singapore’s DBS has appointed Pearlyn Phau as deputy group head of consumer banking group and wealth management, effective January 1, 2016. She replaces Domenic Fuda, who has left the bank for another role.
Phau is currently head of consumer banking and wealth management for Hong Kong, a role she has held since 2012.
She will relocate to Singapore for her new role to oversee DBS’s regional consumer banking and wealth management businesses, which has 6 million customers and 250 branches.
Phau will report to Tan Su Shan, group head of consumer banking group and wealth management. DBS said it would announce Phau’s replacement in Hong Kong shortly.
She joined DBS in 2003 and has held various leadership roles at the bank, including regional head of DBS Treasures, the bank’s priority banking platform.
Prior to his current role, Fuda was chief financial officer of regional consumer banking and wealth management. Before joining DBS in March 2010, he spent 16 years at Citigroup, most recently as chief operating officer for Southeast Asia Pacific, Australia and New Zealand.
QIC hires Jim Christensen in CIO succession plan
Australian investment manager QIC has hired Jim Christensen from Telstra Super as managing director for global multi-asset, effective January 11, 2016. He will report to CEO Damien Frawley.
Christensen’s hire is part of a planned succession that will see chief investment officer Adriaan Ryder mainly focus on strategic-level investment advice and relationships with the Queensland government and across the global sovereign wealth fund and public fund community.
Ryder had been responsible for leading the global multi-asset team in his capacity as CIO.
For the past five years, Christensen was CIO at Telstra Super, which was named corporate pension fund of the year in AsianInvestor’s Institutional Excellence Awards in 2014.
He rejoins QIC, having been managing director of the active management division there before he worked for Telstra.
With A$75 billion ($54 billion) in assets under management, QIC runs infrastructure, real estate, private equity, multi-asset and liquid strategies.
QIC has some 90 clients globally, including governments, pension plans, sovereign wealth funds and insurers. Headquartered in Brisbane, it also has offices in London, Los Angeles, Melbourne, New York, San Francisco and Sydney.
Aberdeen AM sees investment director depart
Chong Yoon-Chou, investment director on Aberdeen Asset Management’s Asian equities team in Singapore, will depart at the end of January 2016 and will not be replaced. The UK fund house said Chou was taking a break from the industry.
A spokeswoman said that despite Chong’s departure, the firm had a very strong team in place. “Chou has been a great asset to Aberdeen – having joined in 1994 as our first graduate trainee in Asia – and he leaves with our best wishes,” she added. The Asia ex-Japan equity team is around 40-strong, led by Flavia Cheong.
Chou has been instrumental in refining the group’s investment process and portfolio construction techniques. He joined in Singapore in 1994 and moved to Sydney as investment director, before transferring to London to lead the Pan-European equity team.
In June 2008, Chou returned to Singapore and joined the Asian equities team.
East Capital poaches BNPP IP Greater China equity head
East Capital, an emerging-markets asset manager, has expanded its investment team with the hire of Francois Perrin as a portfolio manager, responsible for Greater China markets. He was previously head of Greater China equities at BNP Paribas Investment Partners.
Working alongside portfolio manager Dmitriy Vlasov, whose main focus is China A-shares, Perrin will support the wider research capabilities of the team in Asia. He will also support East Capital’s sustainable investment approach across its public equity strategies. Based in Hong Kong, Perrin reports to Adrian Pop, head of Asia.
There are three portfolio managers in Asia – Perrin, Pop and Vlasov – and two analysts. Stockholm-based East Capital, which has €2.1 billion ($2.23 billion) in public and private equity and real estate, sees China as being increasingly important in terms of allocation.
Caroline Yu Maurer has replaced Perrin at BNPP IP as head of Greater China equities. She joined in July this year, having previously worked as a China portfolio manager at Henderson Global Investors in Singapore.
Before becoming head of Greater China equities at BNPP IP, Perrin was head of Asian socially responsible investment (SRI) equities. Previously he worked at Fortis Investments in Frankfurt, focusing on European SRI, global and emerging thematic fund management, and Lombard Odier in Geneva, where he developed SRI research and managed SRI funds.
Credit Suisse Private Banking replaces Australia head
Credit Suisse Private Banking has promoted Alex Wade to be its new Australia head following the retirement of Edward Jewell-Tait, effective January 1, 2016.
Wade is currently market head for Australia and Asia-Pacific Switzerland, meaning he looks after both local clients and Asia-Pacific clients with assets booked in Switzerland. He is also Asia-Pacific chief of staff for private banking.
In his new role, Wade will be based in Sydney and report to John Knox, Australia CEO at Credit Suisse, and Francesco de Ferrari, Asia-Pacific head of private banking based in Singapore.
Wade has 15 years’ experience in the banking industry in Hong Kong, Singapore and Australia across investment banking, custody and private banking.
Asia Corporate Governance Association seeks COO
The Hong Kong-based Asia Corporate Governance Association is seeking a chief operating officer to work closely with secretary general Jamie Allen.
The new hire will, among other things, manage the logistics and agendas of regular ACGA events; assist with business development; oversee financial and accounting processes; coordinate new member working groups planned for 2016; and provide input to strategic planning.
Other people news reported in the past week on AsianInvestor.net:
Jardine’s Teng to relocate to Singapore for new role
UBS WM names Asia head to replace Shih
Noah eyes global expansion, plans to pare funds