Au King Lun quits BOC HK for new role

The award-winning chief executive of BOC HK Asset Management, Au King Lun, has left the company, AsianInvestor can confirm.

A 30-year industry veteran, Au had served in the CEO role for five years, having joined to run Bank of China’s Hong Kong asset management unit in 2010.

He officially vacated his position last Wednesday. AsianInvestor can confirm that Au has joined Eastspring Investments as its Hong Kong CEO. Au was unavailable for comment at press time.

Wayne Shum, who has served as BOC HK Asset Management’s head of institutional business for the past two years, has been named as acting CEO. It is understood he will perform a dual role, at least on an interim basis.

A BOC HK spokesperson told AsianInvestor: “It is standard procedure for the group to install an acting CEO. It has been discussed internally. We have a stable team and we will continue to do what we have been doing. It is not the time to say what will happen next.”

Asked whether BOC HK Asset Management would look to launch a recruitment process to include internal and external candidates to replace Au, the spokesman declined to comment.

Au was awarded the Medal of Honour by the Hong Kong government for valuable contributions to the securities and asset management industry in July 2008.

He has served as chairman of the Hong Kong Investment Funds Association and also as chairman of the Hong Kong Securities and Investment Institute.

A graduate of Oxford University, Au has worked in the industry since January 1987, serving for more than five years as director of quantitative investment for Baring Asset Management based in London, according to his LinkedIn profile.

He relocated to Hong Kong in 1992 as a managing director with GMO, where he worked for nearly five years.

In July 1997 he joined HSBC Global Asset Management (Hong Kong), where he worked for 11 years as director and head of institutional business for Asia Pacific.

In September 2008 – the month that Lehman Brothers collapsed – he started as chief executive officer for Asia ex-Japan and Korea at FRM Hong Kong, working there for a little over a year-and-a-half before joining BOC HK Asset Management.

Shum has served as managing director and head of institutional business at BOC HK Asset Management since January 2014. He had been hired from Baring Asset Management, where he was regional head of institutional business for Asia.

He, too, worked at HSBC Global Asset Management, serving for nearly three years as head of sovereigns and supranationals for Asia Pacific based in Hong Kong.

Prior to that he was managing director for Asia ex-Japan institutional business at Franklin Templeton Investments, also in Hong Kong.

Shum began his career as an investment consultant for Mercer in July 1995 based in Toronto, transferring with the company to Hong Kong in April 2001 to become director of investment consulting for North Asia.