Reliance Capital hires Singapore CEO

Reliance Capital has appointed Shek Chee-Seng as CEO of its newly established Reliance Asset Management (Singapore).

Shek reports to Mumbai-based Vikrant Gugnani, CEO and president of the firm's international business. He joins after serving as CEO at Citic Prudential Fund Management in China, where he set up operations from scratch -- a task he is now being asked to repeat. He has also worked in Singapore at HSBC Asset Management, ABN Amro Asset Management (now part of Fortis Investments, which in turn is being acquired by BNP Paribas), and Citibank Global Asset Management (which was sold to Legg Mason).

(Jimmy Wang was appointed head of Citic Pru in February, after having served as UBS Securities' chief representative.)

Gugnani, who previously headed Reliance Capital's asset management business in India, was appointed head of international business last year with the aim to take the nation's largest fund house and turn it into a regional player.

Under Shek, Reliance intends to build investment capabilities in Singapore. He is building on an existing team that already manages Indian equities, a service targeted mainly at non-resident Indian customers. But Reliance intends to develop a regional capability in equities, fixed income and derivative products.