Weekly roundup of job-hoppers, Dec 14

Threadneedle appoints Campbell CEO
UK-based fund house Threadneedle Investments announced that its global CEO, Crispin Henderson, had been appointed vice-chairman of global asset management for its parent company, Ameriprise Financial. This is a newly created role.

Campbell Fleming, Threadneedle’s head of global distribution, replaces Henderson as CEO. Both roles are based in London and report to Ted Truscott, Ameriprise’s CEO of global asset management. The changes are pending regulatory approval.

A spokesperson for Threadneedle says there are no plans to replace Campbell as head of global distribution and that these responsibilities will be shared among the existing distribution team.

Fleming will continue to work alongside Asia-Pacific chairman Raymundo Yu, who joined Threadneedle in November 2010 and now oversees more than 40 investment and business development staff across Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, Malaysia and Australia. Its Asian equities and fixed income professionals are based in Singapore.

Asked about the need for this change, the spokesperson says Henderson’s appointment “reflects the increasingly global nature of the business”.

In a company statement, Truscott is quoted as saying: “Over the past year, [Henderson] has had discussions about opportunities to transition to a role that offered broader input across our global asset management businesses. This new role is ideally suited to him.”

On the question of whether Ameriprise would continue to look for acquisitions, having recently pulled out of a deal to buy the investment management business of ING, as reported, the spokesman says: “Nothing to add.”

Henderson joined Threadneedle in 2002 as chief operating officer, became a managing director in 2006 and was named CEO in 2007. Previously he spent 35 years at PricewaterhouseCoopers and its predecessor firms.

Fleming joined Threadneedle in 2009 as head of distribution and a member of the executive committee. Previously he was managing director of JP Morgan Asset Management’s UK business.

Threadneedle actively manages $123.6 billion in assets globally as at the end of September. Of this, $11.7 billion (9.5%) is sourced from Asia-Pacific clients, by AsianInvestor numbers. Its parent Ameriprise has more than $678 billion in owned, managed and administered assets.

Deutsche eyes growth in ETFs, ETCs
Deutsche Bank announced it had hired Simon Klein from Lyxor Asset Management as head of ETF and ETC sales for EMEA and Asia within its asset and wealth management division.

Klein is currently based in Frankfurt, although he is not due to start until the new year and his location is yet to be determined.

This is a newly created role and points to the fact that Deutsche is intent on growing its exchange-traded fund and exchange-traded commodity business. “They are investment/growth areas,” confirms a Deutsche Bank spokesman based in London.

Klein will report to Thorsten Michalik, global head of division’s global client group within its passive business. Previously he was head of ETFs for Europe and global head of business development for ETFs and indexing at Lyxor AM, a subsidiary of French bank Société Générale.

Lyxor has been losing people. Media reported that Nizam Hamid, who was head of ETF strategy at Lyxor AM, had also left the firm. He had only joined in November 2010 from Barclays Global Investors, where he was head of European sales strategy.

Further, last month AsianInvestor reported that Fidelity had hired Herman Chen from Lyxor to serve as its new head of institutional sales for China. He replaced Bin Han, who quit Fidelity this February to join Credit Suisse as head of distribution for China.

Chen had been head of ETF distribution for Asia-Pacific at Lyxor in Hong Kong. His departure came after Lyxor moved to delist its range of 12 synthetic ETFs in Hong Kong earlier this year, as reported.

Sources suggested it had not achieved sufficient volume to make managing these ETFs cost-effective, with the 12 funds having amassed just $150 million in total, although a Lyxor spokesman at the time said the firm planned to retain its ETFs in Singapore.

Manulife hires senior PM from ING
Manulife Asset Management announced it had appointed Oscar Leung from ING Investment Management as senior portfolio manager dedicated to the Hong Kong/China equity market.

Based in Hong Kong, he reports to Ronald Chan, head of equities for Asia. He joins Manulife’s Greater China team, which comprises 16 equity professionals in Hong Kong, eight in Taipei and 35 in Beijing with China joint-venture Manulife Teda.

Manulife AM has 10 investment offices across Asia with more than $50 billion in assets under management.

Welcoming Leung on board, in a statement Chan points to his background in managing pension portfolios offered within the Hong Kong Mandatory Provident Fund (MPF).

Leung has more than 24 years’ investment management experience, including 10 as senior manager for Hong Kong China equities with ING IM in Hong Kong.

The statement points to his extensive experience in managing mutual funds, institutional products and retirement funds offered by MPF. He has also spent nine years at Nomura Asset Management (Hong Kong), where he managed one of the first Hong Kong equity products distributed in Japan.

PE firm spies EM/China opportunities
US-based private equity firm Siguler Guff announced the appointment of Jay Koh as a managing director and partner at the firm.

A spokesman for Siguler Guff says it will seek to tap Koh’s expertise in US growth equity, small buyouts and distressed investing gained from nine years at The Carlyle Group.

Koh has extensive experience in emerging markets, having previously worked as head of investment funds and chief investment strategist at Overseas Private Investment Corporation, the US government’s development finance institution. There he led the agency’s $2.6 billion active EM private equity programme, overseeing 33 funds.

He has also served as head of Europe, Middle East and Africa private equity at R3 Capital, and in the global principal strategies division at Lehman Brothers.

Siguler Guff is a multi-strategy PE business with more than $10 billion in AUM invested in more than 350 private equity funds. It has a $3 billion emerging markets strategy focused on opportunities in Brazil, Russia, India and China (Bric), amongst others.

It runs Bric Opportunities Funds under co-portfolio managers Ralph Jaeger and Patricia Dinneen. In particular Siguler Guff is looking to expand its China business, within its overall EM strategy. Ally Zhang is head of its Shanghai office, and Yuebing Lu is vice-chairman of China Funds.

Siguler Guff says it serves over 450 institutional clients and 500 high-net-worth individuals. Headquartered in New York, it has offices in Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, Moscow, Shanghai, Sao Paolo and an affiliate office in Mumbai.

RBS forecasts prime services growth
Royal Bank of Scotland announced the appointment of Joseph Braitsch from UBS as Asia-Pacific head of futures and options within its prime services business.

Based in Singapore, he replaces Richard Vine, who moved to brokerage Icap as head of financial futures and options broking. RBS says it expects to see significant growth in its prime services business, driven by market demand.

Braitsch will also head the electronic futures execution team. He reports regionally to Asia-Pacific head of prime services David Gray and to Jeremy Wright, the bank’s global head of futures and options.

Previously Braitsch spent 12 years at UBS, where he was Asia Pacific head of futures and options and cash high frequency and Japan head of exchange-traded derivatives. He left in September and has yet to be replaced, according to a UBS spokesman.

CBRE brings in China president
Commercial property services firm CBRE announced that Ivan Poon would join as president of China, effective from the start of next year.

He will take over the role from Chris Brooke, who was president and chief executive of CBRE in China but will assume a new role as chairman and CEO for China, to focus on national business strategy and client-related initiatives. Poon will work closely with Brooke.

In a statement, Brooke says the company sees the need to reorganise its management structure to reflect changes within the real estate industry in China and respond to client demand.

Poon has previously worked for multi-national corporations including DHL, Compaq and Kodak.

CBRE serves real estate owners, investors and occupiers through 300 offices worldwide, providing advice, property sales and leasing, project management, mortgage banking and valuations, among other services.

Perpetual finds CFO replacement
Australia-listed asset manager Perpetual announced the appointment of Gillian Larkins as chief financial officer, based in Sydney.

She is due to start in the role on January 7 and replaces Roger Burrows, who resigned last month and will continue in a transition role until early February. He is set to join Australia-based rail and port operator Asciano as its new CEO.

Larkins joined Perpetual in October from Westpac Institutional Bank, where she was CFO and managing director. Prior to that she was Citigroup’s CFO for Australia and New Zealand.

Perpetual has seen several senior departures, including previous CEO Chris Ryan after just a year in his role following a board-level dispute. Ryan subsequently joined MSCI.

HK securities institute unveils new board
The Hong Kong Securities Institute (HKSI) unveiled new board directors including Craig Lindsay as chairman.

Lindsay’s role is voluntary and he will continue as chief operating officer for Citic Securities International Investment Management (HK) and chairman of the China New Economy Fund. Anthony Muh is the institute’s outgoing chairman.

The new board directors voted by members are finance professor Michael Firth, John Maguire of Reorient Financial Markets, Colin Shaftesley of PricewaterhouseCoopers and Trini Tsang of Wocom Holdings.

Board directors appointed by the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) are Ringo Chiu of Citic Securities, Derek Shek of the SFC and Stephen Wong of HSBC Broking Services. Eight directors also remain on the board, including Lindsay.

The mandate of the institute is to provide licensing examination as required by the SFC. The group also provides education and training programmes for industry professionals.

Other people moves reported by AsianInvestor in the past week:

Canada Pension Plan adds business lines in Asia

Lee quits E Fund after short stay

EFG AM sets out on Asia buildout, eyes retail