Weekly roundup of people news, Dec 4
Credit Suisse appoints new Greater China, NRI heads
Credit Suisse’s private banking arm has made two senior appointments, including a new head of Greater China and a market group head for the non-resident Indian (NRI) business in Asia Pacific.
Francois Monnet, current chief operating officer for the region, will become Greater China head on January 1. Based in Hong Kong, he replaces Tee Fong Seng, who retains the roles of Hong Kong chief executive and Asia-Pacific vice chairman for private banking.
One industry observer did not see the move as a demotion for Tee, but rather part of the Swiss bank’s succession planning activities.
Malaysia-born Tee has been with Credit Suisse since 2009, when he joined from UBS to become vice chairman and Asia-Pacific head of ultra-high-net-worth business based in Singapore. In 2013, he moved to Hong Kong to head Greater China, replacing Anna Wong, who resigned from the bank.
Monnet joined Credit Suisse in 2007 as head of private banking for Southeast Asia and Australasia until 2010, when he became head of UHNW business for Southeast Asia, Australia and Japan.
As COO, Monnet was the project lead in developing the digital private banking platform that Credit Suisse launched globally this year, with Asia Pacific as the first rollout region in March, starting in Singapore.
Meanwhile, Balakrishnan Kunnambath takes over as market group head for the Asia-Pacific NRI business, based in Singapore. He joined Credit Suisse in November to replace Venugopal Vishwanathan who retired in July.
Kunnambath joined from Singapore's DBS Private Bank, where he was NRI head for Asia Pacific and the Middle East. DBS declined to comment.
He now reports to Martin Künzler, head of Japan and Indian sub-continent, and to Rajan Sehgal, head of international wealth management for Indian sub-continent, NRIs and Africa.
These appointments follow that of Alex Wade as Australia head of private banking to replace Edward Jewell-Tait, who is retiring, as reported.
Credit Suisse is one of the five biggest private banks in Asia Pacific, with Sfr133 billion ($134 billion) of assets under management as of September 30.
BNP Paribas WM hires former UBS execs for Indonesia roles
BNP Paribas Wealth Management made three appointments to newly created roles in Singapore last month with the aim of expanding its Southeast Asia business.
Jonathan Ng has been named market leader for Indonesia, reporting to Stephanie Lair, head of Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia. He was most recently a desk head for the Indonesia ultra-high-net-worth division at UBS.
Sharon Yee joins Ng’s team as team head for Indonesia, also moving from UBS, where she served Indonesian UHNW clients and was involved in expanding the focus on family office clients.
Prior to these two hires, BNPP WM covered Indonesia via its regional team for Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia, headed by Lair.
Finally, Inge Kua assumes the new role of senior adviser to Lair in addition to her current position as senior banker. In her expanded role, Kua will be responsible for strengthening the focus on the mega-wealthy client segment. She has been with the bank for 23 years.
It is understood that Ng and Yee have not yet been replaced at UBS, but they may be in future. The Swiss bank declined to comment.
Bank Sarasin recruits ex-ABN Amro team: reports
Swiss firm Bank J Safra Sarasin has hired Feroze Sukh, former North Asia head of international clients at ABN Amro Private Banking, and three of his colleagues from his time at the Dutch bank, Aditya Jayaraman, Jyoti Jain and Amit Singh, according to Asian Private Banker.
Sukh had reportedly joined ABN Amro’s Hong Kong office in January last year from Deutsche Bank to build up the North Asia international client desk.
Sarasin declined to confirm the appointments.
JP Morgan names private bank exec as HK senior country officer
JP Morgan has appointed Kwang Kam Shing as senior country officer (SCO) for Hong Kong for the group, to replace Andrew Butcher, who has left to pursue other career opportunities.
The SCO post involves facilitating the bank’s local governance, controls and coordination across its lines of business, as well as fostering its community engagement efforts in Hong Kong.
Kwang, who has worked with JP Morgan for 17 years, will retain her current role as market manager for Hong Kong and China and for sponsors in the Philippines and Thailand at JP Morgan Private Bank.
Before joining JP Morgan, Kwang served as head of private clients for Singapore at HSBC Global Asset Management.
Butcher had been with JP Morgan since August 2011 and before that worked as Asia head of operations and technology at Citi, according to his LinkedIn page
Bank of Singapore hires new Philippines head rep
OCBC-owned Bank of Singapore has appointed Manuel Go Ahyong ‘Jun’ Jr as head of its Philippine representative office to replace Kristen Quintos, who will retire on December 15.
Ahyong joins the private bank from Rizal Commercial Banking Corp, where he was head of wealth management. He has 30 years of private banking, wealth management and treasury experience, having worked at Citibank, American Express Bank, Banque Indosuez and Deutsche Bank.
Citi names Indonesia head of securities services
Citi has appointed Imelda Sebayang as Indonesia head of securities services, a business that includes direct custody and clearing, investor services and issuer services.
The appointment became effective December 1. She had been acting Indonesia head of securities services since August 2015 and before that Indonesia head of sales for securities services since 2013.
Citi did not respond by press time to a query about who had been Indonesia head of securities services before August 2015.
Prior to rejoining Citi, Sebayang was Indonesia head of financial institutions sales at Standard Chartered. She has also worked at ABN Amro and Astra International.
PineBridge poaches SSGA's Gregory Ehret as new CEO
US firm PineBridge Investments has named Gregory Ehret as its new global chief executive, effective January 25, 2016. He was previously president of State Street Global Advisors (SSGA), the investment management arm of State Street Corporation.
Ehret replaces interim CEO Stephen Fitzgerald, who will continue to serve as deputy chairman, a role he has held at PineBridge since 2013. Fitzgerald took the interim post after David Jiang resigned as CEO in March this year after three years at the helm.
Before joining PineBridge Jiang had been global head of BNY Mellon’s passive and ETF businesses, and prior to that Asia-Pacific CEO at BNY Mellon Asset Management.
Ron O'Hanley will re-assume the president role at SSGA in addition to his responsibilities as chief executive. He had been president and CEO until June 2015.
At State Street, Ehret was most recently responsible for global client outreach, product development, marketing, operations and technology. During a 20-year tenure at State Street, he held numerous management roles in the US and Europe.
PineBridge had $77.6 billion in AUM as of September 30, 2015 across multi-asset, equities, fixed income and alternatives strategies.
Other people moves reported on AsianInvestor.net in the past week:
Building DPM teams is tough, says Citi’s Bacon
Axa IM fills out multi-asset dealing hub