Benjamin Deng to join Ping An after leaving CPIC
Benjamin Deng, the former chief investment officer (CIO) at China Pacific Insurance Co (CPIC) is joining the country’s largest insurer Ping An Insurance Group (Ping An) to head up its investment strategy, according to two sources familiar with the matter.
Deng will join Ping An in a role equivalent to the CIO position, which could be shared with current group CIO Timothy Chan Tak Yin, the sources said.
A Ping An spokesperson declined to comment about Deng's appointment but said that Chan will continue to be with the group. However, the spokesperson did not specify if Chan will retain the CIO position.
Deng did not respond to enquiries about the new appointment.
On September 28, Deng stepped down from CPIC as CIO, according to a company announcement. The firm said that the resignation was due to personal family reasons.
Before joining CPIC in 2018, Deng spent 18 years with AIG in New York and later AIA in Hong Kong. His previous position at AIA Group was head of group investment solutions and derivatives.
For the past three years, he has been the vice chair of the investment research committee and vice chair of the asset liability management committee at the Insurance Asset Management Association of China.
In the first half of 2021, Ping An recorded a 3.8% net investment return, down 0.3% from the 4.1% in the same period last year. Net investment income was Rmb77.6 billion. Its total investment assets under management (AUM) grew 1.2% to Rmb3.79 trillion ($585.8 billion) as of June 30. Ping An was founded in 1988 in Shenzhen.
PING AN VETERAN
Chan has been with Ping An since 2005. Aside from being Group CIO, he is also a director of Ping An Life, Ping An Asset Management, and Ping An Overseas Holdings.
Chan was previously the deputy chief investment officer of the group, the chairman and chief executive of Ping An Asset Management, and the chairman of Ping An of China Asset Management (Hong Kong), according to Ping An’s website.
Before joining Ping An, Chan worked as a fund manager, investment director, chief investment director, and managing director at BNP Paribas Asset Management, Barclays Investment Management, SHK Fund Management, and Standard Chartered Investment Management.
CPIC NAMES NEW CIO
After Deng's departure, CPIC on November 25 named Su Gang as the new CIO, according to exchange filings.
Su previously held several roles within CPIC, including head of investor relations, investment director for CPIC’s several projects, manager of derivatives investment, chairman of unit Yangtze River Social Endowment Insurance.
Prior to joining CPIC, Su worked at Shenyin Wanguo Securities. The firm declined to comment on his reporting line and other details of the role as the appointment is still pending regulatory approval.
CPIC was established in 1991. Headquartered in Shanghai, the group is the first insurance group simultaneously listed on the Shanghai, Hong Kong and London stock exchanges.
In the first half of the year, group assets under management at CPIC rose to Rmb2.56 trillion ($395.8 billion), an increase of 5.3% from the end of 2020, according to its latest 2021 interim report.