Lion Global seeks stability in management reshuffle

Following several months of upheaval, Singapore-based Lion Global Investors, which manages insurance firm Great Eastern Holdings’ assets, may have achieved some level of management stability.

David Conner, chief executive of OCBC Bank, has been promoted to chairman from deputy chairman, and Christopher Wei became deputy chairman with effect from February 18.

Wei joined Great Eastern on February 10 as group CEO from insurer AIA Group, where he was chief marketing officer until he left in November.

(The OCBC group has an effective interest of 91% in Lion Global, of which 70% is held through Great Eastern Holdings.)

Ng Keng-Hooi had been group CEO of Great Eastern and chairman of Lion Global since December 2008, but left the group in November to join AIA as managing director for India, the Philippines, Taiwan and Thailand.

Ng had previously worked under Mark Tucker – who joined AIA as CEO in July – during Tucker's 10-year tenure as Prudential Asia’s CEO.

Meanwhile, Gerard Lee joined Lion Global as CEO in November from Fullerton Fund Management in Singapore. He replaced Daniel Chan who had resigned in mid-2010.

As it happens, Lee’s deputy CEO at Fullerton, Choy Peng-Wah, also recently left to move to Harvest Global Investments in Hong Kong as vice-chairman and CEO as of February 14.

In addition to GE’s assets, Lion Global manages some third-party investments. It had assets under management of S$28.74 billion ($22.57 billion) as of December 31.