Weekly roundup of people news, May 6
Schroders to appoint Debruyne as Asia-Pacific CEO
Schroder Investment Management will promote Lieven Debruyne to chief executive for Asia Pacific. He will replace Richard Mountford, who will return to a role in the UK.
Debruyne is currently CEO for Hong Kong and head of distribution for Asia Pacific and has been with the UK fund house since 2001.
Schroders declined to comment on the appointment.
ANZ’s Asia wealth chief Packard exits
The shake-up continues at Australian bank ANZ, with Bret Packard resigning as Asia head of wealth management and private banking.
He left last month following the consolidation of the wealth and retail units and the departure of Joyce Philips from her role as global head of wealth, marketing and innovation.
Packard’s role has been assumed by Sanjoy Sen, head of retail banking for Asia Pacific, based in Singapore. He reports to David Hisco, who took over in March as head of wealth for Asia, along with international and Pacific retail, in addition to his role as chief executive of New Zealand.
It emerged in March that ANZ was breaking up its global wealth unit, folding most of it into its retail business. This is seen as part of moves by new chief executive Shayne Elliott to boost profitability, following his appointment in January.
Chandrima Das to head fintech firm Mesitis Capital
Bank of Singapore’s former head of fund solutions, Chandrima Das, has joined financial technology firm Mesitis Capital as chief executive. She takes over from Tanmai Sharma, who is now group CEO of Mesitis Pte.
Among other things, the group provides an account-aggregation tool for wealth managers and their clients called Canopy.
Das has been with the wealth management and asset management industry for 18 years. In her last role at BoS, OCBC’s private bank subsidiary, she was head sales and advisory for managed investments. She left the firm last October, as reported.
She had joined BoS in 2012, before which she was CEO of ING Investment Management in Singapore. OCBC had acquired ING’s Asian private banking business in 2010.
Julius Baer names head of emerging Asia
Swiss private bank Julius Baer has appointed Angela Bow as head of emerging Asia, a newly created role in a bid to strengthen its wealth management business in the Philippines and Thailand. Based in Hong Kong, she reports to Jimmy Lee, head of Asia Pacific.
Like several of Julius Baer’s recent hires, Bow moved from Credit Suisse, where she was market head for the Philippines and deputy market area head for Japan and emerging Asia.
She has 30 years of experience in private banking across Hong Kong, Tokyo, Geneva and New York, holding senior relationship management and market leadership roles.
Bow also worked at UBS Wealth Management for 14 years, most recently as country team head for the Philippines. She has also spent with at Citi Private Bank and Swiss Bank Corporation.
Mirae Asset adds to Hong Kong ETF team
Korean fund house Mirae Asset has added a product marketing and development executive to its exchange-traded funds team in Hong Kong.
David Quah joins from Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEx) as product specialist, overseeing the product marketing strategy and investor education initiatives. He reports to Carmen Cheung, head of the ETF team in Hong Kong, and took up his duties in April.
His appointment follows the arrival of Kim Jin, who relocated from Seoul to become senior ETF portfolio manager in Hong Kong in March.
Mirae is growing its ETF team in Hong Kong as the city's regulator, the Securities and Futures Commission, prepares to approve the city's first leveraged and inverse ETFs, products that have proved popular in Korea and Japan.
A Mirae spokesman said more hires would follow as new products were launched.
At HKEx, Quah was vice-president for cash trading in product development and marketing. He previously worked at Hong Kong's Securities and Futures Commision, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and the World Bank.
HKEx declined to comment on his departure or potential replacement, citing policy.
Bridge hires Craig Plane to set up Singapore office
Investment consulting firm Mercer has lost Craig Plane to Australian consulting firm Bridge, where he will establish the Singapore office. The branch is hiring consultants and expects to have a team of five this year, he said.
Plane joined Bridge in last month as director of its financial services management consulting practice in Singapore, with a mandate to grow the business across Asean and Greater China. He reports to John DiBiase, founder and one of the directors of Bridge.
The firm’s financial services management practice advises investment and wealth managers and asset owners on areas including operating model design, IT architecture and solutions.
Bridge already has clients in Asia, but the Singapore office will help better service their needs, said Plane. The company also has offices in Sydney and Melbourne.
Plane was with Mercer for eight years, most recently as head of Mercer Sentinel for Asia and the Middle East. He started with the company in Sydney, before moving to Hong Kong in 2010 and Singapore in 2013. Mercer is in the process of recruiting a replacement.
Hamilton Lane promotes three to MD
US-based $239 billion alternative investment manager Hamilton Lane has promoted three executives to managing director level in Asia, effective April 1.
Tokyo-based Tomoko Kitao, previously a director, will continue to spearhead the company's efforts in Japan, while Xia Mingchen and Josh Jacob become managing directors in Hong Kong.
The three report to Juan Delgado-Moreira, Hong Kong-based head of international business, with Xia also reporting to global head of fund investments Andrea Kramer.
Kitao joined Hamilton Lane in 2012 and previously worked for Bank of Tokyo-Mitubishi UFJ and Bank of Tokyo.
Xia had served as a principal on Hamilton Lane's fund investment team in Hong Kong since 2014 and previously worked at Tokio Marine Asset Management, Mitsubishi UFJ Securities and Mizuho Securities.
Jacob has spent 10 years with Hamilton Lane, most recently as a principal managing client relations and product development for Asia ex-Japan.
Delgado-Moreira was previously the only managing director in the region, so the new appointees will reduce the reliance on him and managing directors based elsewhere, said a spokeswoman.
The three have not been directly replaced in their previous roles, but their teams have been expanded, with a new hire for each of Xia's and Jacob's teams and a new vice-president in Tokyo, she added, without providing names.
Simmons & Simmons promotes fund specialist to partner
Law firm Simmons & Simmons has promoted Hong Kong-based investment funds specialist Eva Chan to partner. She joined the firm in 2005 and has been consultant since June 2013.
She specialises in authorised/registered investment funds (listed and unlisted) including exchange-traded funds (ETFs), futures and options funds, Ucits funds, hedge funds and structured funds.
Chan has advised on and been involved in more than half of the ETFs listed in Hong Kong, said Simmons & Simmons in a statement.
Other people news reported on AsianInvestor.net in the past week:
BlueRun ventures targets $500m for new fund, expands team