Weekly roundup of people news, Dec 16
Value Partners names new CEO
Value Partners has appointed Au King-lun as chief executive as of December 12 to replace Timothy Tse, who stepped down in early November.
Prior to joining Value Partners, Au was Hong Kong CEO of Eastspring Investments, the Asian investment arm of UK insurer Prudential. He left that firm on December 9. Guy Strapp, Hong Kong-based CEO of Eastspring, has assumed responsibility for the Hong Kong office, and the firm does not plan to replace Au.
Based in Hong Kong, Au now reports to Cheah Cheng Hye, founder and chairman of Value Partners.
Before joining Eastspring, Au was CEO of Bank of China Hong Kong Asset Management between May 2010 and November 2015.
Tse told AsianInvestor in early November that he had held the CEO position for almost five years, so it was natural for him to consider other business opportunities. He said this week that he was still on gardening leave until January and was taking a break.
SLI adds business development manager
Standard Life Investments (SLI) has appointed Nathan Geary in a newly created role of business development manager.
His appointment was effective on December 1 and he reports to Virginia Devereux Wong, Hong Kong-based head of Asia wholesale business.
Based in Hong Kong, Geary's responsibilities previously came under the remit of Jason Lam, associate investment director in the Asia wholesale team. Lam relocated from Hong Kong to SLI’s new Singapore office in November.
Before the appoinment, Geary was leading Standard Life Asia's (SLA) wealth and investment solutions division with a focus on high-net-worth customers and distributors, primarily in Hong Kong.
The responsibility for his broker accounts have been allocated to other SLA sales managers.
Credit Suisse PB replaces funds analyst
Credit Suisse Private Banking hired Xu Yezhong in Singapore as a funds analyst on December 5. He will be part of the team responsible for selection of Asian fixed income funds. Xu replaces Serene Lim, who left earlier this year.
Xu reports to Rodolphe Larqué, head of funds and exchange-traded funds for Asia Pacific, who is also based in Singapore.
Xu was most recently with Nomura Wealth Management, where he was responsible for both fund selection and advisory. The Japanese firm declined to comment. Prior to that, he was part of the wholesale distribution team at Singapore's Fullerton Fund Management.
Citi appoints new sales head for PB and CIB
Citi has appointed Kevin Lam as Asia-Pacific business development head for both its private bank (PB) and corporate and investment bank (CIB), effective on December 15. This is in addition to his existing role as Hong Kong chief operating officer for the CIB.
Lam will facilitate cross-selling by leveraging client relationships and promoting product solutions across the Citi platform. The bank said it made the appoint because it was seeing increased demand from its billionaire clients for institutional solutions.
Lam reports to Mark Slaughter, head of CIB for Asia Pacific and Bassam Salem, Asia-Pacific CEO of Citi Private Bank, both of whom are based in Hong Kong.
Willis Towers Watson boosts insurance consulting team
Willis Towers Watson has appointed Ken Brown as division leader for insurance consulting and technology (ICT) for South Asia and emerging markets in Asia Pacific.
Based in Singapore, Brown’s role is a newly created one as strengthening the company's ICT capabilities is important in light of significant regulatory changes and market uncertainty, said Richard Collis, managing director of ICT in Asia Pacific. He pointed to a strong need among insurers for improved capital management structures, with an increased focus on both operational efficiency and expense management.
Collis previously oversaw South Asia and Asia-Pacific emerging markets.
Brown's hire followed the appointments of Rob Speers and Vincent Yu who both joined as senior consultants in Hong Kong.
Speers advises on distribution and strategy for life insurers, non-life insurers, health insurers, banks and other intermediaries in the region, while Yu focuses on client relationship management in the life consulting team.
Before joining Willis Towers Watson, Brown was with Australian insurer Gow-Gates Group, Speers was Asia bancassurance lead at US insurer MetLife and Yu was Asia head of financial risk management at Belgian insurer Ageas.
Allen & Overy names partner in Shanghai
UK law firm Allen & Overy has added Wayne Lee as a partner in its Shanghai office to expand the China corporate practice, effective in January 2017. He will bring the Greater China M&A team up to 10.
Lee joins from rival law firm Shearman & Sterling, where he was a counsel advising private equity and investment firms, as well as pension and sovereign wealth funds. Shearman & Sterling declined to comment.
Lee is experienced in advising Chinese private companies and state-owned enterprises on cross-border M&A and investment transactions.
He has also worked at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Freehills.
DLA Piper adds partner in Hong Kong
Law firm DLA Piper has appointed Andrew Payne as a partner in Hong Kong, effective December 14. His focus is on special situations, bond and bank debt restructurings and private equity mergers and acquisitions in Asia Pacific.
In the PE arena, Payne has advised institutional investors and fund managers on leveraged buy-outs, portfolio/auction transactions, fund formation and co-investments.
Payne is an addition to the team and reports to Mark Fairbairn, Hong Kong-based head of restructuring and special situations in Asia.
Prior to joining DLA Piper, Payne was a legal counsel at Clearwater Capital Partners in Hong Kong. Clearwater did not respond to a request for comment by press time.
SFC names new non-executive director
Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) has appointed Edward Cheng Wai-Sun as a non-executive director for a two-year term, effective January 1, 2017. Cheng is also deputy chairman and chief executive of Hong Kong-based developer Wing Tai Properties.
He replaces Leonard Cheng Kwok-hon, who has been SFC’s non-executive director since January 1, 2011. Leonard Cheng is president of Lingnan University of Hong Kong. His current term with SFC will expire on December 31.
Other people news reported on AsianInvestor in the past week: