Weekly roundup of job-hoppers, Feb 15
Hwang swaps BNY Mellon for Janus
Janus Capital has hired Andrew Hwang from BNY Mellon Asset Management as director of business development for Asia ex-Japan, AsianInvestor can confirm.
Hwang started in the role last month in Hong Kong with responsibility for product and business strategy. He will focus on institutional investors.
This follows the departure of Jan Deahl, senior marketing manager of institutional business for Asia Pacific ex-Japan, who quit and returned to the US in the third quarter of last year.
But Hwang is not a replacement for Deahl, says Louis Poon, director of financial intermediaries, sales and marketing for Asia ex-Japan at Janus Capital. “This [Hwang’s title] is new, we have not had this function before,” he notes.
Formerly of Robeco, Poon leads a marketing team of three for Janus in the region, while Hwang works alongside Wendy Hui, who covers business development for financial intermediaries. Hui has been with Janus since November 2011, having previously worked at Alliance Bernstein.
According to his LinkedIn profile, Hwang was formerly head of the product development and strategy team for Asia at BNY Mellon AM, where he had worked for more than five years.
However, a spokesperson for BNY Mellon says Hwang was only part of the product team and not the head. That position belongs to Jane Caire following her appointment last year.
"We will not be replacing Andrew's role on a like-for-like basis," says the spokesperson. "We are growing, and at quite a pace as we are very ambitious and want to become one of Asia's premier investment managers over the next 10 years.
"It's an exciting time for BNY Mellon as we evolve from an Asia-Pacific distributor, to a regional product innovator and global preferred provider of Asian investment strategies. We will be hiring product people, but not a like-for-like replacement for Andrew."
Janus Capital underwent a restructure following the arrival of Augie Cheh from Alliance Bernstein in 2011. It saw the exit of co-CEO Jack Lin (who joined Pioner Investments); chief operating officer Fred Horsey; head of marketing Alvin Chiu (who joined Eastspring Investments); head of retail marketing Lesley Chen; head of legal Kim Chong; and compliance executive Carmen Kwan.
At the start of last year Janus Capital hired Ivan Fong from BlackRock as sales director for Asia ex-Japan, with a source telling AsianInvestor at that time it was planning to build its sales team, with a focus on institutional accounts in markets including Taiwan and Korea. Janus opened an office in Taiwan in October 2012.
Reshuffle sees Chia take over as Temasek CIO
Singaporean sovereign wealth fund Temasek has reshuffled its senior management team, with Chia Song-Hwee replacing Tan Chong-Lee as head of investment.
Effective 1 February, Chia relinquishes his responsibilities as head of the credit portfolio, co-head of Singapore and co-head of portfolio management, but he remains co-head of China with Ding Wei.
Tan is now head of portfolio management, head of strategy and co-head of Singapore with Leong Wai-Leng.
Other reshuffles include Nagi Hamiyeh, who is now head of Australia, New Zealand and the Middle East and co-head of Africa, taking over the Australasia portfolio previously held by Goh Yong-Siang. Hamiyeh was previously head of Africa and the Middle East.
David Heng is now head of Southeast Asia and co-head of the markets group with Boon Sim. Heng was previously co-head of Southeast Asia with Lee Theng-Kiat. Sim also retains his positions as president of Americas and co-head of the credit portfolio.
Temasek had $114.7 billion in AUM as of March, according to AsianInvestor numbers (see the July 2012 issue of the magazine).
Vanguard adds to sales team
Eddy Lam joined US-based passive funds specialist Vanguard Investments on 1 February as an associate director in the retail and intermediary sales team.
He reports to Linda Luk, who came on board in August from PineBridge Investments, where she was Asia head of intermediary distribution.
Lam used to work with Luk at Henderson Global Investors, and his appointment to the newly created role is part of Luk’s efforts to build an intermediary sales team in Hong Kong.
Last February Vanguard received a licence from Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) to deal in and advise on securities. It has been building up its team over the past year or so.
Colonial First State restructures management team
Australia's Colonial First State Global Asset Management (CFSG AM) has announced a reshuffle in its senior ranks that has seen the departure of Joanna Davison and Gary Withers. They were managing director for Australia and New Zealand and managing director for Emea, respectively.
Michael Stapleton, managing director for Asia including Japan, has since assumed responsibility for Australia and New Zealand, in a newly created role as managing director for Asia Pacific. He runs institutional relationship management, consultant relationships, sales activities and marketing and communications across the region.
London-based Chris Turpin replaces Withers as managing director for Emea, in addition to his existing role as global head of product, in which he looks after development and management of FSI’s products across the Emea, Asian, Australian and American businesses.
Finally, London-based Kanesh Lakhani has been named head of distribution for Emea and global consultant relationships. He was previously managing director for the Emea institutional and wholesale business.
As of 31 December, First State had $159 billion in AUM.
EM debt team leaves ING for Neuberger Berman
Dutch firm ING Investment Management has lost five emerging-market debt executives to Neuberger Berman as its US rival seeks to build on its EMD team.
They are Rob Drijkoningen and Gorky Urquieta, co-heads of the EM team; Bart van der Made, lead portfolio manager for EMD hard-currency strategies; Raoul Luttik, lead PM for EMD local-currency strategies; and Prashant Singh, lead PM for the Asian debt local bond strategy.
The five joiners are expected to remain in their respective locations: Drijkoningen, Made and Luttik in the Netherlands; Urquieta in the US; and Singh in Singapore.
Following their departures, ING has named Sylvain de Ruijter as acting head of the EMD team; he was most recently head of core fixed income.
It is understood that the group is prioritising growth in the emerging fixed income space. As reported, the group is aiming to establish an Asian fixed income presence in the region.
Neuberger Berman declined to comment.
The US firm's buildup contrasts that to ING, which is selling off assets to repay a €10 billion ($12.9 billion) government bailout dating back to the 2008 financial crisis.
The previous Asia-Pacific CEO of ING IM, Grant Bailey, left the firm as negotiations for a takeover by Ameriprise Financial, parent company of Threadneedle AM, broke down.
Tse ditches Pictet for Cathay Conning AM
US-Taiwanese joint venture Cathay Conning Asset Management (CCAM) announced the appointment of Tse Koonnang as business developer, just seven months after he joined rival Pictet AM.
Reporting to Mark Konyn, Tse’s boss during their time at fund house RCM, he has already started in his newly created role this month. He will have responsibility for business development in Hong Kong, Taiwan and China.
“Our initial focus was in building the investment infrastructure and securing the appropriate talent to drive our Asian capabilities,” a spokeswoman says. “We are now at a stage where we are building our sales and service resources to build on our initial successes in asset management and risk management services.”
Tse joined Pictet as Hong Kong-based vice president of business development in June, but left at the end of January due to “personal accord”, confirms a spokesperson, declining to comment whether a replacement has been or will be named.
CCAM is looking to expand the team in the coming year. The team is five-strong, with three in marketing, client support and business development and a further two in risk and capital management team. All report to Konyn.
VinaCapital names new managing director
Vietnam-based fund house VinaCapital announced the appointment of David Blackhall as managing director to VinaLand, its real estate fund subsidiary, effective 1 February. He was previously deputy MD and replaces David Henry, who is leaving to pursue a career opportunity in Australia.
Blackhall joined VinaCapital in 2007 and has 28 years experience in property, design and construction, with the last 20 years spent in real estate asset management.
Before joining VinaCapital, he worked with a Vietnamese property developer in Hanoi and before that spent 12 years with Deutsche Bank’s alternative investment arm RREEF in Australia.
VinaLand invests directly in the residential, retail, hospitality and office sectors in Vietnam. Its parent company VinaCapital has AUM of $1.6 billion.
LGBT Wealth hires senior adviser
Hong Kong-based LGBT Wealth has announced the appointment of Dominik Kevric as senior wealth adviser to the newly created group serving Asia’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual (LGBT) community.
Kevric was transferred from Financial Partners, parent company of LGBT Wealth, where he was a senior relationship manager. He has also worked for Commonwealth Bank of Australia in personal and mortgage lending, and general insurance.
Kevric will lead the advisory development of LGBT Wealth, providing advice and services including retirement planning and saving, insurance, property and wealth protection.
Other people moves reported by AsianInvestor in the past two weeks:
Ex-RREEF exec joins Brookfield AM in new role
Australia's Cbus takes portfolio construction inhouse
Matthews continues Asia buildup, mulls strategy