Mercer raids Towers Watson for new HK hire

Mercer has poached Adeline Tan from rival investment consultancy Towers Watson as investment advisory head for Hong Kong. She replaces Michelle Ng, who left her role as head of advisory for Greater China in December.

Having joined on January 2, Tan advises Greater China clients on long-term investment strategy and portfolio construction. Seven investment consultants and analysts report to Tan, who in turn reports to Deborah Bannon, investments business leader for Greater China, also based in Hong Kong.

Previously Tan managed a team at Towers Watson in London specialising in fiduciary services, namely helping clients to delegate their investment processes. She had held several investment-related roles at the firm since joining in 2001.

Ng had been head of advisory for Greater China for less than a year; she moved to Manulife Asset Management as a portfolio specialist responsible for asset allocation.

Her exit followed a restructuring of the Asian business earlier in the year after the departure of Asia-Pacific investments leader Stephen Roberts.

Another recent departure was that of Mercer’s Korea head of investment advisory, Ryan Kim Changwon. After almost two years as head of the Seoul office, he left to join Dutch asset manager Robeco in December. His responsibilities have been absorbed internally at Mercer.

A recent new Mercer appointment is Lisa Sun, who joined in November as a managing director and market leader for Asean in Singapore. She came from Zurich Insurance Group, where she held a similar position. Sun replaced Wong Su-Yen, who took on the newly created role of senior adviser to Mercer and sister consulting firm Oliver Wyman.