Weekly roundup of people news, July 22

Pimco names Roman as CEO

US-based asset manager Pimco has appointed Emmanuel "Manny" Roman as its chief executive officer to replace Douglas Hodge, who has taken up a new post as managing director and senior adviser.

Roman joins from Man Group, where he was also CEO. He takes up his duties at Pimco's Newport Beach, California headquarters on November 1.

Before joining Man Group in 2013, Roman spent 18 years with Goldman Sachs. All-told, he brings 30 years' experience in the investment industry.

Meanwhile Man Group has named Luke Ellis, currently its president, as CEO. Subject to regulatory approval, he will take over after Roman departs on August 31.

Jonathan Sorrell, the firm's chief financial officer, will also serve as president, the British-based asset manager announced.

UBS AM’s Charles Burbeck temporarily takes over equities

The asset management arm of UBS announced in an internal memo that Charles Burbeck was taking over leadership of its global equity team “on an interim basis”, after his co-head Nick Irish left the company (as first revealed by Citywire).

Burbeck boasts 25 years of investing experience, and is therefore a safe pair of hands to steer UBS Asset Management’s equities operations. However, it seems he may not remain in sole control forever, with the memo noting that UBS “will appoint a permanent head of the global equity team”.

The memo stated that Irish, who had worked at UBS Asset Management for eight years, had left “to pursue other opportunities”, and thanked him for his work while at the company.

A spokeswoman for UBS Asset Management declined to comment on the staff move, and whether it would have ramifications on the firm’s Asia-based management. 

Rohe replaces Arter as BlackRock Australia chief

BlackRock named Dominik Rohe as its country head of Australia on July 18, replacing Justin Arter in the Sydney-based post.

Arter is moving to London to be BlackRock's head of institutional client business for the UK, Middle East and Africa, ending four years in Australia. 

Taking over the reins, Rohe reports to Ryan Stork, BlackRock's Asia-Pacific chairman.

Rohe has been with BlackRock for more than a decade. He spent the last four years leading its institutional and wealth lines of business in the Latin America and Iberia region.

Credit Suisse expands Greater China team

The Swiss private bank has hired Edwin Lim and Stella Kong as market group heads for Taiwan and China, respectively. Based in Hong Kong, they report to Francois Monnet, head of Greater China, private banking Asia Pacific

Lim and Kong are additional market group heads for Taiwan and China alongside existing market group heads Orchid Yuan (Taiwan) and Alex Ng (China).

Before Credit Suisse, Lim was head of Northeast Asia for high-net worth investors at JP Morgan Private Bank, responsible for leading relationship management teams across Hong Kong and Singapore, and providing services in Greater China and the Philippines. JP Morgan Private Bank has not replaced him.

Kong was deputy regional head of private banking for Greater China and North Asia at Standard Chartered Bank. She has also previously worked at ABN Amro, Deutsche Bank and UBS.

Standard Chartered confirmed Kong’s departure but declined to comment further.

LGT Singapore hires portfolio manager...

Liechtenstein-based private bank LGT has hired Qijia Chong as a portfolio adviser in Singapore. He joined this month from Pictet Wealth Management, where he had worked as a portfolio manager for three and a half years.

Chong specialises in discretionary portfolio management and has participated in the management of Asian mandates which invest through third-party mutual funds and index trackers. Prior to Pictet, he was a regional portfolio manager at ABN Amro Bank.  

Pictet confirmed Chong’s resignation but declined to say if he was replaced.

LGT earlier this month also recruited a senior relationship manager in Singapore; Michael Hua joined after 11 years with HSBC as reported.

...but loses fund gatekeeper to Value Partners

While LGT has made new hires in Singapore, it lost its Hong Kong-based head of managed solutions Kelly Chung to Hong Kong fund manager Value Partners Group.

Chung joined her new firm in April as a senior fund manager. She reports to co-chief investment officers Cheah Cheng Hye and Louis So.

“Given her extensive experience in multi-asset portfolio management, Kelly is expected to enhance the investment management team’s asset allocation capabilities and expand the group’s global product offerings,” a spokeswoman at Value Partners said.

Chung was with LGT Private Bank from June 2010 to April 2016, where she provided investment solutions to private bankers and clients via managed vehicles including funds (traditional and alternatives), managed accounts, and ETFs on a global basis. She also managed discretionary portfolios, responsible for asset allocation and fund selection for clients with various risk profiles.

LGT declined to comment on Chung’s replacement.

Singapore’s Thirdrock hires senior portfolio managers

Singapore-based independent asset manager Thirdrock Group hired Suanjin Tan as senior portfolio manager and Yi-Lin Lee as senior fixed income strategist and portfolio manager on June 27.

Both are additional hires and will co-manage a discretionary fixed income strategy, adding to the firm’s growing suite of discretionary portfolio management offerings. They report to Tan Kuang Wei, head of funds and strategic managed accounts.

Prior to Thirdrock, Tan was lead portfolio manager for China credit and head of Asian private credit at BlackRock, co-managing fixed income portfolios in excess of $8 billion. In addition to his portfolio management responsibilities, Tan was also a senior credit analyst with a particular focus on Chinese corporations, and oversaw the firm’s China research efforts.

Lee was most recently at Haitong International as head of credit sales for Singapore. She has over 15 years of investment banking experience in global credit & interest rate markets, which included stints at the fixed income trading businesses of Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Deutsche Bank and Royal Bank of Scotland.

Other people news reported in the last week by AsianInvestor:

Lockheed Martin IM hires Asia head of private markets

Parantoux awaits licence, readies event-driven fund

CSOP debuts L&I ETFs, expands sales coverage

Robeco opens Singapore office with credit focus

This article has been updated to reflect the news about the appointment of Charles Burbeck as sole head of global equities for UBS Asset Management.