Weekly roundup of people news, May 27
Savills IM names Asia chief, opens Australia office
Savills Investment Management, a UK-based property investment manager, has named its first chief executive for Asia Pacific and opened an office in Australia.
Michael Flynn has been promoted to Asia-Pacific CEO from head of Southeast Asia and Australia. Based in Singapore, he reports to Justin O’Connor, global CEO at Savills IM, which manages $20 billion globally and $2.5 billion in Asia.
Flynn has spent eight years with the company, including as global head of business development. Before joining Savills IM, he was CEO for Asia Pacific at Tecient, a property-related venture owned by Grosvenor Estates, AMP, Henderson Private Capital and Simon Property Group.
Savills IM has also added Jennifer Johnstone-Kaiser as a director in the Sydney office, which opened last month, as it seeks to build up its presence in the region. Reporting to Flynn, she is the firm’s first hire in Australia, but it plans to add both organically and, where it makes sense, by acquisition.
With 30 years of experience in real estate investment and investment consulting, Johnstone-Kaiser was previously Asia-Pacific head of real estate at investment consultancy Mercer for seven years.
She has advised, among others, Australian superannuation funds, Korea’s $435 billion National Pension Service and Hong Kong Hospitality Authority, on domestic and global investment strategy, portfolio construction, implementation, due diligence and portfolio monitoring.
There are no current plans to open additional offices beyond Hong Kong, Shanghai, Singapore and Tokyo, a spokeswoman told AsianInvestor. "Any additional offices will probably be to cater for AUM increase in a particular market, such as an additional Australia office if growth warrants it."
Hang Seng Bank names new wealth chief
Hong Kong's Hang Seng Bank has appointed Margaret Kwan as head of retail banking and wealth management effective July 1. She will replace Nixon Chan, who retires but will remain on the board and be re-designated as a non-executive director.
Simon Yuen, head of customer value management, will take up the position of head of consumer assets from Kwan.
Kwan started her career at Hang Seng in 1995 in the retail marketing department. She has held various senior management positions since then and currently heads the card, unsecured loan and mortgage business.
She has been instrumental in formulating strategy for growth and development of the retail and wealth management business, said the bank.
AllianzGI appoints head of alternatives
German fund house Allianz Global Investors has promoted Deborah Zurkow, chief investment officer and head of infrastructure debt, to head its alternatives business, a newly created role.
Zurkow will take up the London-based post on June 1, when she will join AllianzGI's global executive committee.
She reports to chief executive and CIO Andreas Utermann, who previously represented the alternatives platform on the global executive committee.
Claus Fintzen will succeed Zurkow as CIO and head of infrastructure debt, reporting to her. He was previously a director in the infrastructure debt team and retains his previous duties.
The company said Zurkow's new role reflected the rapid growth of its alternatives platform. Since setting up its alternatives "pillar" in December 2014, the business's assets under management have doubled, growing from E7.9 billion ($8.8 billion) to E15.7 billion at the end of March this year.
Fintzen and Zurkow joined AllianzGI in 2012, along with three other team members from Trifinium Advisors, a subsidiary of US insurer MBIA.
Northern Trust adds salesman in Middle East
Northern Trust has hired Clayton DaSilva as sales manager for the Middle East, as the US asset management and asset servicing firm looks to build its presence in the region.
Based in Abu Dhabi, DaSilva reports to Douglas Gee, head of sales for Europe, the Middle East and Africa. He took over the role at the end of April.
DaSilva joins from JP Morgan, where he was most recently an executive director, responsible for investor services relationship management and business development.
He takes over responsibilities previously held by Michael Slater, head of Saudi Arabia, as Northern Trust looks to build its Middle East presence. Slater continues to lead operations in Saudi Arabia, and told AsianInvestor in March that the firm would be adding five executives in the region.
Societe Generale names new Korea chief
Societe Generale has promoted Andrew Kim to chief country officer for Korea and head of its Seoul branch.
Kim will transfer from SG Securities on June 1 and take on the branch manager duties from August 1, subject to regulatory approval. He will report to Hikaru Ogata, chief executive for Asia Pacific.
Kim takes over from Raphael Cheminat, who is moving to an as-yet-undisclosed new role in the group after heading the Korean operation since 2012.
Kim had served as head of financial institutions coverage in Korea since joining Societe Generale in 2011 and had also been head of debt capital markets (DCM) since 2013.
Rhee Jey-Hyung, director of DCM Korea since 2013, takes over as head of DCM and reports to Laurent Morel, head of DCM and advisors for Asia Pacific.
Gun-Suk Chai, who became senior relationship manager for financial institutions in Korea in 2013, becomes head of FIG, reporting to Olivier Vercaemer, Asia-Pacific head of financial institutions.
Both the latter appointments take effect on June 1 and are in addition to the pair's previous duties.
Other people news reported by AsianInvestor in the past week: