Roundup of people news, Feb 3
Note: This week's news covers appointments and other moves from January 20.
CARESUPER HIRES EQUITIES HEAD
Australian industry superannuation fund CareSuper has appointed Gary Wong as its new head of equities.
Wong will continue to be based in Melbourne in his new role, and is now responsible for the fund's Australian and global equity portfolios.
He has experience in portfolio management and investment research and has been with the Victorian Funds Management Corporation (VFMC) for the past 15 years as a senior portfolio manager.
Prior to his career with the Victorian government investment manager, Wong held positions at ABN Amro and Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu.
The VFMC has promoted Amy Li to the role of assistant portfolio manager, covering strategy and asset allocation following Wong’s departure, a spokesperson told AsianInvestor.
PRUDENTIAL TAPS HEAD OF NEW MACAU BRANCH FROM AIA
Prudential has appointed Chris Ma as general manager of the newly established Prudential Macau with immediate effect, the insurer announced on January 26.
Before joining Prudential Macau, Ma spent over 22 years with AIA.
Ma will be responsible for driving operational strategy, establishing the distribution channels and building a comprehensive suite of products in Macau.
He reports to Lawrence Lam, CEO of Prudential Hong Kong, the firm told AsianInvestor.
Ma has more than 30 years of experience in the insurance industry. He was the chief executive officer of AIA Macau prior to joining Prudential. AIA declined to comment on his replacement.
SEAN CHANG JOINS VALUE PARTNERS AS CO-CIO FOR FIXED INCOME
Hong Kong-based Value Partners Group named Sean Chang as co-chief investment officer, fixed income, effective January 30, alongside co-CIO, fixed income, Gordon Ip.
Chang and Ip will both be responsible for leading the fixed income team to create and manage investment solutions for clients. Both of them will report to Louis So, co-chairman and co-CIO of the group.
Ip is based in Hong Kong, whilst Chang will be based in Singapore. Ip has been CIO for fixed income since July 2017.
Chang joins Value Partners from Ping An of China Asset Management (Hong Kong), where he spent four years and was most recently head of fixed income until August 2022, when he resigned, the firm told AsianInvestor.
Ping An appointed Gordon Tsui as managing director and head of fixed income to replace Chang since July 2022.
AWARE SUPER NAMES GLOBAL STRATEGY LEAD
Aware Super has promoted Damien Webb to deputy chief investment officer to head of international. He is now in charge of the super fund’s offshore expansion program.
He continues to be based in Sydney and will now operate as an executive lead for the fund’s continued international expansion of its investment function, according to statement from Aware Super.
Webb will be responsible for building the fund’s global presence, starting in Europe and will lead Aware in "growing relationships which support the effective origination and ownership of assets."
He has served Aware as its deputy chief investment officer since September 2021. Prior to that, he was head of income and real assets for seven years.
EASTSPRING HIRES FOR SINGAPORE FIXED INCOME TEAM
Eastspring Investments, the $222 billion asset management business of Prudential, has made three new senior hires for its Singapore-based fixed income team.
Clement Chong joined Eastspring in December 27 2022 as credit manager, reporting to Danny Tan, head of fixed income.
He oversees the credit research team and co-manages the Eastspring Asia Sustainable Bond Fund, alongside portfolio manager Rong Ren Goh.
Chong joins from NN Investment Partners where he was most recently head of research and managed Asian high yield strategies, according to a release.
Goldman Sachs Asset Management, with whom NN Investment Partners have recently merged, declined to comment on AsianInvestor’s inquiries about when Chong left the firm, his role and who had taken over his responsibilities.
The second appointment is that of Benedict Phua, who joined Eastspring in November 28 2022 as director of fixed income, reporting to Wai Mei Leong, lead portfolio manager, and focuses on Asian US dollar credit solutions-based strategies at Eastspring.
Phua was most recently at Standard Chartered where he was executive director of credit trading, according to his LinkedIn profile.
A Standard Chartered spokesperson declined to comment on when Phua left.
Finally, Jamie Tay joined Eastspring on January 16 as director and client portfolio manager of the Asian fixed income team, and is responsible for bridging the views of the investment team and Eastspring’s clients.
Tay reports to Adam Matthews, head of client portfolio managers, Eastspring Investments, a spokesperson told AsianInvestor.
Tay was most recently with UBS Asset Management in Singapore, where she was a director covering Asia and China fixed income strategies.
UBS Asset Management did not respond to AsianInvestor’s inquiries about when Tay left the firm or who had taken over her role.
None of three roles are newly created, the Eastspring spokesperson said, declining to comment on who held the roles prior to the new hires.
ABRDN HIRES HK HEAD OF WHOLESALE DISTRIBUTION
Tina Tong has joined abrdn as head of wholesale distribution for Hong Kong.
In this newly created role, Tong is responsible for strengthening relationships with key intermediary distributors and delivering abrdn's wholesale value proposition to clients in Hong Kong.
She reports to David Hanzl, head of wholesale, Asia Pacific.
Tong has over 20 years’ experience in the asset management industry, and was most recently the vice president for distribution at Matthews Asia.
During her 10-year tenure at Matthews Asia, she was responsible for fund distribution activities to private banks, family offices, fund of funds, EAMs and insurance companies. Prior to that, she served as director of business development at Peak Capital.
AsianInvestor was unable to contact Matthews Asia to ask about Tong’s replacement at the time of publication.
BNP PARIBAS AM APPOINTS MALAYSIA CEO
BNP Paribas Asset Management announced the appointment of Daniel Choong as the firm’s Malaysia chief executive officer, subject to regulatory approval, on January 27.
Choong succeeds Angelia Chin-Sharpe, who relocated to Singapore last August following her appointment as the firm’s Singapore CEO. He is based in Kuala Lumpur and reports to Chin-Sharpe.
Choong has over 26 years of experience in financial services and the investment management and has has held senior roles across financial firms in Singapore and Malaysia previously, including ABN AMRO Asset Management and Nomura Islamic Asset Management.
He was most recently managing director and head of distribution for abrdn Malaysia.
Abrdn declined to comment on Choong’s replacement at the time of publication.
MORNINGSTAR APPOINTS ASIA MANAGER RESEARCH DIRECTOR
Morningstar has appointed Germaine Share as director of manager research in Asia, effective January 1. Share is based in Hong Kong and reports to Wing Chan, head of manager research in Europe and Asia-Pacific.
In this newly created role, Share expands her responsibilities a director of manager research to oversee the active manager research analyst teams in China and South Korea, adding to her existing responsibilities leading the analyst teams in Hong Kong, Singapore, and Thailand.
The China team previously reported to Wing Chan, while South Korea analyst team previously reported to Sydney-based Grant Kennaway, global head of manager selection, a spokesperson told AsianInvestor.
Share continues to oversee the qualitative research and coverage on investment managers and funds based in Asia. Before joining Morningstar in 2012, Share was a project officer for Hong Kong venture capital firm Chinarise Capital.
CBRE HIRES FOR INDIRECT PRIVATE REAL ESTATE, CHINA CAPITAL MARKETS
CBRE Investment Management has appointed Vida Tandean as head of Asia investments for indirect private real estate strategies.
She is now responsible for sourcing, executing and managing all aspects of the investment and asset management process for the indirect team in Asia.
Tandean is based in Singapore and replaces Ping Wong, who joined Frasers Property in Singapore as chief investment officer in July.
Tandean was appointed at the end of 2022, a spokesperson told AsianInvestor.
Prior to joining the firm, Tandean was a director within UBS Asset Management's real estate business, where her responsibilities included sourcing, underwriting and delivering investment solutions. UBS did not respond to AsianInvestor’s query on Tandean’s replacement at the time of publication.
Before joining UBS, Tandean spent 10 years at Aberdeen, working with the indirect real estate team.
Separately, CBRE also appointed industry veteran Kelvin Chan as head of capital markets, China. Based in Shanghai, he will lead a team of over 50 capital markets professionals across mainland China for CBRE.
In the newly created role, Chan reports to Alan Li, China president, with another reporting line to Greg Hyland, head of capital markets, Asia Pacific, the firm told AsianInvestor.
Chan has more than 20 years of commercial real estate transaction experience across Asia, focusing on investments in China.
Prior to joining CBRE, Chan worked for PAG Real Assets and Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets, where he was involved in transactions of all major real estate asset classes in China and across Asia.
TSANGS GROUP ADDS SINGAPORE OFFICE, APPOINTS CEO
Single family office Tsangs Group has appointed Daisy Ha as the chief executive for their new office in Singapore.
The new office will allow it to explore financial opportunities in Singapore and Southeast Asia. It is registered as a consulting company to engage in advisory activities for mergers and acquisitions.
Ha is co-founder of Aimpact group, a financial services company with head offices in Hong Kong and Singapore. She has also previously worked at BOC Aviation in Singapore, and Optima Capital in Hong Kong.
Headquartered in Hong Kong, Tsangs Group has direct investments in sectors ranging from fintech to entertainment and space travel.
In 2022, the family office also opened an office in Dubai to enable greater access to Middle Eastern and European assets.Patrick Tsang, chairman of the family office, said at the time that tech, artificial intelligence (AI), and cloud computing were hot topics among investors.
ASHMORE FINDS NEW ASIA EX-JAPAN HEAD
Alexis Ng has joined emerging markets investment specialist Ashmore as head of Asia ex-Japan.
Ng joined in December 2022 and is based in Singapore. She takes over from Michael Winter in the role, whose main responsibilities were Asia ex-Japan distribution and being CEO of Ashmore Singapore.
A spokesperson declined to respond to AsianInvestor’s inquiries about when Winter stepped down and whether he is still at Ashmore.
Prior to joining Ashmore, Ng was country manager for Singapore and managing director for Asia-Pacific at Muzinich & Co., a New York-based public and private corporate credit specialist investment firm.
Muzinich did not respond to AsianInvestor’s inquiries about when Ng left the firm and who had taken over her role.
ASIA CREDIT SPECIALIST REJOINS MUZINICH
Mel Siew has rejoined Muzinich & Co. as portfolio manager, focusing on Asia Credit in public markets, in a newly created role in Singapore.
Muzinich did not respond to AsianInvestor’s inquiries about who Siew will report to.
Siew returns to Muzinich after working two years at Global Evolution, where he was head of Asia credit, a release said. Before that, he was with Muzinich for nine years as a senior credit analyst.
Global Evolution did not respond to AsianInvestor’s queries about when Siew left the firm or who has taken over his role.
Global private markets firm Partners Group appointed Teppei Kawai as managing director, head of client solutions Japan and head of the Tokyo office.
Kawai will join on April 1 and will report to Asia chairman Kevin Lu, a spokesperson told AsianInvestor.
Kawai replaces Shunsuke Tanahashi, who will transition into a new role in the firm supporting Japan business operations and existing clients, the spokesman said.
Kawai was managing director and head of client and product solutions for Japan at Apollo Global Management until December 2022, according to his LinkedIn profile.
Apollo did not respond to AsianInvestor’s inquiries about when Kawai left the firm and who has taken over his role.
COLLIERS EXPANDS APAC LEADERSHIP TEAM WITH OCCUPIER SERVICES DIRECTOR
Real estate professional services and investment management company Colliers has appointed Mike Davis as managing director for occupier services in Asia Pacific, commencing February 6.
He also joins the Asia Pacific executive leadership team and is based in Singapore.
Davis will be responsible for growing Colliers’ occupier services business across Asia Pacific – particularly in office, data centres and industrial sectors – in collaboration with his counterparts across the region and around the world. Davis will report to Sam Harvey-Jones, Asia Pacific COO at Colliers, a spokesperson told AsianInvestor.
Davis was mostly recently with Philadelphia-based real estate services firm Binswanger where he was president of brokerage service until December 2022, according to his LinkedIn profile.
Binswanger could not be reached by AsianInvestor to ask about when Davis left the firm and who had taken over his role.
This appointment follows the recent announcements of Bastiaan van Beijsterveldt named managing director in Singapore and Chris Pilgrim appointed managing director in Asia Pacific for global capital markets.