Top people moves of 2021
UBS AM loses Hong Kong head to KKR
UBS Asset Management’s head of Hong Kong and regional wholesale client coverage has resigned and is understood to be moving to a new wealth management client-focused role at US private equity firm KKR.
Markus Egloff, who had worked at UBS for almost 25 years in numerous roles, will be leaving shortly to join KKR. He will be taking up a new position that focuses on expanding the firm's reach to wealthy individuals across the Asia region, said people familiar with the move.
Egloff had been the Asia Pacific head of wholesale client coverage at UBS since July 2018, in addition to acting as Hong Kong head, a position he assumed at the same time, according to his LinkedIn profile. He posted a ‘thank-you’ message on the profile on Thursday (May 6).
Prudential names new head of Hong Kong investments
Prudential Hong Kong has appointed Fanda Ho to become its head of investments, AsianInvestor can reveal.
The Hong Kong division of Prudential Corporation Asia said in an internal memo on March 29 that it had appointed Ho the role “with immediate effect”.
She effectively replaces Ben Rudd, the former chief investment officer for Prudential Hong Kong, who AsianInvestor revealed had shifted roles on March 25 to become the chief wealth officer for the life insurer.
In her new role, Ho reports to Nigel Knowles, the chief financial officer of Prudential Hong Kong.
Prudential’s Asia group CIO to leave on sabbatical
Stephan van Vliet, the group chief investment officer (CIO) of Prudential Corporation Asia (PCA), is set to leave his current role to go on a sabbatical of up to 12 months at the end of June, AsianInvestor can reveal.
Once he leaves, Stephen Metcalfe will take over responsibilities for the PCA investment team, in addition to his current role as chief capital officer.
Van Vliet said he had decided to take the sabbatical to return to his home country of the Netherlands for personal reasons.
“[Taking a sabbatical] is something that I have been wanting to do for a while, but in [large] organisations like this one you need to wait for the right opportunity,” he told AsianInvestor.
GIC to hire five executives for infra, private equity and private credit
GIC is looking to fill five associate roles across private equity, private credit and infrastructure, indicating a continued foray into alternative asset classes.
The $488 billion sovereign wealth fund posted the new vacancies last week, and a senior vice president said in a LinkedIn post there were five roles available. Already, the private equity role has been filled, according to the relevant page on GIC’s career website.
The private credit role will focus on investments primarily in the US and Europe, while the infrastructure role will cover the fund's global infrastructure strategy across all sectors, such as utilities, transportation, digital infrastructure, energy and power, and emerging infrastructure, according to the job postings.
Both positions will be part of the global investments, strategy and risk group and will be based in Singapore.
OTPP grows Asia team, plans 15 additions in 2021
Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan has added several investment staff in Asia this year and plans to increase its regional headcount by a further 50% in 2021, with a focus on its new Singapore office.
The third biggest Canadian retirement fund has grown its personnel by eight to 34 across its two Asia branches – in Hong Kong and Singapore – and intends to expand the Lion City team by another 15 in 2021, a spokesman told AsianInvestor.
“We are expecting to grow the infrastructure/natural resources, high-conviction equities [HCE] and private capital teams in Singapore in the first half of next year,” he said in an email.
OTPP transferred Amit Sobti, director of private capital, from Hong Kong on December 14 to be the first member of the private equity team in the Singapore office, which opened in September. He has been with the C$207.4 billion ($160.9 billion) fund since 2016.
Schroders hires head of sustainability strategy in ESG push
Schroders is understood to have hired Mervyn Tang from Fitch Ratings to join a new team it is building that will focus on environmental, social and governance (ESG) investing and research, AsianInvestor can reveal.
Tang is currently Fitch Ratings’ global head of ESG research and sustainable finance, based in Hong Kong. He has held this position since joining the rating agency in March 2019, according to his LinkedIn profile. He is set to join Schroders in a few weeks.
Schroders is believed to be hiring Tang as its head of Asian sustainability strategy, as part of an effort to build a four-strong team that will staff its new regional Centre of Excellence for Sustainability, based in Singapore.
Prudential’s HK CIO takes up chief wealth officer role
Prudential Corporation Asia (PCA) has appointed Ben Rudd as chief wealth officer for Hong Kong after he has spent four years as chief investment officer for the life insurer's operations in the territory.
“In this role I will be responsible for accelerating and broadening Prudential’s deployment of wealth solutions to our Hong Kong customers,” he announced on LinkedIn on Thursday (March 25).
He added that there would be "lots more announcements to follow in the coming months", and a senior Hong Kong-based banker confirmed that there were "big developments going on" at the firm.