Weekly roundup of people news, Jan 13
Taiwan's BLF names new head
Taiwan's Bureau of Labor Funds has appointed Tsay Feng-Ching, vice-chairman of the board of the country's Public Service Pension Fund (PSPF) as its new director general, effective January 16.
Tsay succeeds Huang Chao-hsi, who is retiring after working at the NT$3.55 trillion ($106 billion) state pension fund for a decade, as reported.
Tsay has been vice chairman of PSPF's board for nearly a decade and before that he was a team head on the board. Before joining PSPF, Tsay worked in the securities and futures bureau of Taiwan's Financial Supervisory Commission and at the Ministry of Finance.
Today (January 13) was Tsay's last day with PSPF. AsianInvestor could not ascertain who would succeed him.
Barings names new Korea chief
Baring Asset Management has appointed Ike Bae as its new chief executive in Korea, to replace Thae Khwarg, who retired in December after two decades with the firm. Bae’s appointment was effective on January 1.
Based in Seoul, Bae (pictured left) reports to Gerry Ng, Hong Kong-based CEO of Asia Pacific ex-Japan. Bae was previously Korea head of sales and has been replaced by Kim Wonil, who was previously Korea head of institutional sales. Kim still covers institutional sales, with his role now expanding to include the private wealth segment.
Bae joined Barings in Korea in 2011 as head of sales. He previously worked at Hanwha Securities and US asset manager AllianceBernstein in Korea.
UBS WM confirms titles for Raju and Mahesh
UBS has announced the titles of two senior hires from Deutsche Wealth Management. Ravi Raju has been appointed co-head of global ultra-high-net-worth (UHNW) for Asia Pacific, and Anurag Mahesh is now head of the global family office (GFO) group for Asia Pacific.
Both left Deutsche Wealth Management in October, as reported previously, and their new roles became effective on January 10.
Raju, previously Asia-Pacific head of wealth management at Deutsche, is Asia-Pacific co-head of global UHNW alongside Amy Lo, who is also head of wealth management for Greater China and country head of Hong Kong.
Based in Hong Kong, Raju (pictured right) reports to Josef Stadler, Zurich-based head of global UHNW, and Edmund Koh, Singapore-based head of wealth management for Asia Pacific.
Raju was replaced at Deutsche by Lok Yim, the former head of wealth management for North Asia. Yim was succeeded by Kanas Chan, former Asia-Pacific head of capital markets, in December. Chan’s replacement has not yet been announced.
Mahesh replaces Valerie Chou following her departure from UBS in November 2015. In the interim her responsibilties were split between Enrico Mattoli, Greater China head of GFO and Patricia Quek, Southeast Asia head of GFO.
In November, Chou helped set up Lioncrest, a Hong Kong-basd investment advisory firm, with two other former UBS executives.
Mahesh (pictured left) was previously global head of key client partners at Deutsche. Todd Stevens, formerly Deutsche WM’s head of key client partners for the Americas, succeeded him in November and remains in New York.
Based in Singapore, Mahesh now reports to Raju, Lo and Sara Ferrari, London-based global head of GFO.
HFSB adds Long and Yong, sees signatory growth
The Hedge Fund Standards Board (HFSB), a London-based global standard-setting body, has added two distinguished names to the already impressive line-up on its Asia-Pacific committee.
The new members are George Long, founder, chairman and chief investment officer of Lim Advisors, and Danny Yong, founding partner and CIO of Dymon Asia Capital.
Long (pictured left) established Lim Advisors in 1995, and the Hong Kong-based hedge fund manager now has $1.6 billion under management, according to Bloomberg. Singapore-based hedge and private equity manager Dymon had $4.8 billion in AUM as of May 2016.
HFSB set up the Asia-Pacific committee in June. It now has seven members and is chaired by Chris Gradel, founder, managing partner and CIO of Hong Kong-based alternatives firm PAG.
The other four committee members are: David George, head of debt and alternatives at Australian sovereign wealth fund the Future Fund; Richard Johnston, head of Asia at hedge fund consultancy Albourne Partners; Ted Lee, senior portfolio manager at Canada Pension Plan Investment Board; and Betty Tay, head of the external managers department at Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC.
In 2016 the HFSB said it saw strong growth in its Asia-Pacific investor chapter and manager signatory membership.
Over the past year, eight additional Asia-Pacific firms committed to becoming signatories to the standards: Dymon Capital Asia (Singapore), Graticule Asset Management (Singapore), Income Partners (Hong Kong), Lim Advisors (Hong Kong), Nezu Asia Capital Management (Hong Kong), Rockhampton Management (Hong Kong), Springs Capital (Hong Kong) and Trustbridge Partners (Hong Kong).
They join six existing Asia-Pacific-based managers as signatories, bringing the total to 14 regional manager signatories out of some 125 globally.
Asia-Pacific-based investors that joined the HFSB investor chapter last year include: CB PermaTrust Asset Management (China), New Zealand Superannuation Fund (New Zealand), Telstra Super (Australia) and Victorian Funds Management Corporation (Australia).
Savills IM appoints Singapore fund director
Real estate specialist firm Savills Investment Management has appointed Volker Wanka (pictured right) as director of fund management for Singapore, effective January 1.
He transferred from Frankfurt, where he was a director of fund management at Savills IM, and will continue to manage the Asia Property Fund 2 and Asia Pacific Fund. The move was made to bring Wanka closer to the assets he manages, a spokesperson said.
Wanka still reports to Kiran Patel, Savills IM’s chief investment officer, who is based in London.
UBS WM adds impact investment specialist
UBS Wealth Management has hired James Gifford as senior impact investing strategist in Hong Kong, the firm's first role of its type in Asia Pacific. His appointment was effective on January 3, and he reports to Andrew Lee, New York-based head of impact investing and private markets.
Gifford previously worked for private equity firm Tau Investment Management as director of impact from January 2014 until November 2016. He was previously a founding executive director of the UN Principles for Responsible Investment, where he served from November 2003 to November 2013.
StanChart PB hires HK market head
Standard Chartered has added Harry Lai as a market head in its private banking and wealth management team for Greater China and North Asia (GCNA) to serve ultra-high-net-worth clients.
He was most recently market head of Hong Kong at Barclays Wealth and Investment Management, which didn't respond to a request for comment.
Asked whom Lai had replaced, a spokeswoman said he was just one of the market heads covering Hong Kong and was not replacing anyone specifically.
Lai reports to Vivian Chan, head of private banking for GCNA.
Sarasin appoints client advisory MD
Bank J. Safra Sarasin has appointed Masaki Sugawara as a managing director for client advisory in Hong Kong, effective January 9.
A spokeswoman said he was a new addition, which is unusual at a time when wealth managers are under major cost pressure, particularly those with smaller businesses in the region.
Sugawara joined from Deutsche Bank Private Wealth Management, where he was director for the Japan market. Deutsche did not respond to a request for comment by press time. Prior to Deutsche, Sugawara worked at Credit Suisse, and Citi Private Banks.
JLL appoints new India CEO
Property services firm JLL has promoted Ramesh Nair to chief executive and country head for India, to succeed Anuj Puri, chairman and country head for India, who will leave the firm on February 28.
Nair will assume his new role on March 1 in Mumbai and report to Anthony Couse, JLL's Asia-Pacific CEO, who is based in Singapore.
Nair was previously chief operating officer for business at JLL India. His successor will be announced in the coming weeks, said a spokesperson.
Other people news reported on AsianInvestor in the past week:
Heman Wong open to new role after HK Hospital Authority