Weekly roundup of people news, May 13
Bank of Singapore hires new CIO
Bank of Singapore has appointed Johan Jooste as chief investment officer. He will replace Hou Wey Fook, who has been appointed head of managed investments.
Jooste was most recently CIO at Azure Wealth, a private wealth management firm based in London.
BoS declined to identify by press time who was previously head of managed investments.
Jooste oversees the research and strategy teams that produce BoS’s house view across all asset classes, and heads the investment committee.
Hou's role incorporates oversight of discretionary portfolio mandates, mutual funds, hedge funds and private equity funds.
Both Hou and Jooste report to Marc Van de Walle, global head of products.
BoS is expanding in Asia, having agreed on April 7 to acquire Barclays' wealth and investment management businesses in Singapore and Hong Kong, as reported.
RBC Global AM hires Greater China head
RBC Global Asset Management, part of Royal Bank of Canada, has appointed Sharon Yang as head of Greater China coverage. She started in the newly created Hong Kong-based role on April 11, reporting to Asia head Ken Tam.
Before joining RBC, Yang was deputy chief executive and head of business development at GF International Investment Management, Guangzhou-based GF Fund Management's Hong Kong arm. She has also worked at software provider MSCI-Barra and US fund house BlackRock.
GF does not plan to replace Yang; CEO and chief investment officer Tom Ding will now oversee business development.
The Swiss private bank has promoted Sharon Chou as chief executive for Hong Kong, in addition to her roles as the bank's CEO for North Asia and executive officer for Hong Kong.
Claude Haberer had previously occupied the Hong Kong CEO position alongside his role as CEO for Asia Pacific. A Pictet spokesperson said this recent change was an evolution of the management structure driven by business growth in the region, but declined to provide details on regional AUM growth.
BNP Paribas loses senior private banker
Senior private banker Amy Shum has left BNP Paribas Wealth Management. The bank declined to comment on the departure and AsianInvestor could not ascertain where she might be going.
Shum is understood to have been a senior relationship manager covering Chinese high-net-worth investors and was an executive director, according to her LinkedIn profile.
Credit Suisse appoints new head of AM
Credit Suisse has promoted internally to fill the role of global head of asset management, following the resignation of Bob Jain, reportedly to join US hedge fund firm Millennium Management. Jain will leave at the end of June.
Industry veteran Eric Varvel will replace Jain, reporting to Iqbal Khan, CEO of international wealth management. The asset management business sits within the wealth management unit.
He will based in New York but spend a significant portion of his time in Switzerland and in emerging markets, including Asia Pacific.
Varvel has been with Credit Suisse for 25 years, most recently as chairman of emerging markets and sovereign wealth funds and a senior adviser to the CEO.
Varnholt joins Credit Suisse's private bank from Julius Baer
Credit Suisse has named Burkhard Varnholt as deputy global chief investment officer for investment solutions and products in its wealth management divison.
Based in Zurich, he will report to Michael Strobaek, global CIO and head of investment solutions and products, when he takes up his duties on November 1.
Varnholt will leave his post as co-CIO and head of the investment solutions group (ISG) at rival Swiss private bank Julius Baer at the end of this month. Head of intermediaries Yves Robert-Charrue took up the ISG role on an interim basis in Zurich on May 10 and reports directly to CEO Boris Collardi.
As a result of the changes, Yves Bonzon will become sole CIO for Julius Baer. Bonzon continues to lead the investment management unit, which manages discretionary investment solutions.
The bank said Varnholt chose to resign after a realignment within ISG at the start of this year. The changes involved the creation of the investment management unit under Bonzon, who had joined from Pictet, as reported.
There have been a number of moves in Asia from Credit Suisse to join Julius Baer in recent months after the appointment of ex-Credit Suisse executive Jimmy Lee as Julius Baer's Asia-Pacific CEO.
Schroders rings changes at the top
Cazenove Capital Management's chief executive, Andrew Ross, has been named global head of wealth management at parent company Schroders, as part of a raft of changes that will also see Schroder Investment Management's Asia-Pacific head take up a new role.
London-based Ross, who took up the new job on May 10, reports to group head of wealth management Philip Mallinckrodt, who will assume the additional title of group head of private assets.
The changes are part of a reshuffle sparked by the imminent retirement of global head of distribution Massimo Tosato. His role will be split between his current deputy, John Troiano, and Richard Mountford, head of Asia Pacific, who is moving from Hong Kong to London.
Tosato will leave at the end of the year, but the changes took effect on May 10. Mountford and Troiano report to group CEO Peter Harrison.
As reported last week, Lieven Debruyne, currently Hong Kong CEO and head of distribution for Asia Pacific, will take over from Mountford.
Munsters named CEO of Edmond de Rothschild AM
Edmond de Rothschild Asset Management has named Roderick Munsters, former chief executive of Dutch asset manager Robeco, as chief executive to replace the departing Laurent Tignard.
Based in Paris, Munsters took up the post on May 10, reporting to Ariane de Rothschild, chairwoman of the group's executive committee.
Munsters left Robeco in September last year after six years as CEO. David Steyn, previously of Aberdeen Asset Management and AllianceBernstein, took over from him on November 1.
As for Tignard, Edmond de Rothschild group would say only that he was leaving to pursue "new professional opportunities". He had been with the company for three years, and was previously France head of HSBC Global Asset Management. AsianInvestor was unable to ascertain his next move by press time.
Other people news reported in the past week on AsianInvestor.net: