Weekly roundup of people moves, Oct 13
CREDIT SUISSE NAMES NEW GREATER CHINA CEO, HK CHAIRMAN, RMs
Credit Suisse has named a new chief executive of Greater China and a new chairman for two Hong Kong divisions. Both of them are promoted within the ranks.
Effective October 11, Mervyn Chow’s duties are expanded as he becomes the new CEO of Greater China while retaining his current role of CEO of China. Chow (pictured below left) is also working as the co-head of investment banking and capital markets for Credit Suisse.
Also effective October 11, Carsten Stoehr was appointed to the additional role of chairman of Credit Suisse Hong Kong and Credit Suisse Hong Kong Securities. The former is the investment banking and asset management entity, while the latter engages in securities trading.
Stoehr is currently the head of Asia Pacific financing group, the bank’s integrated trading and risk management platform.
Both Chow and Stoehr will continue to be based in Hong Kong, and will report to Asia Pacific chief executive officer Helman Sitohang, a company spokeswoman said.
The two appointments were made to replace Neil Harvey, outgoing CEO of Greater China and chairman of two Hong Kong entities.
The Swiss bank’s private banking unit has also hired five relationship managers for the Greater China market. All of them are newly created roles.
Louis Lau, Fannelle Wong and Carmen Chu have joined Credit Suisse as Hong Kong-based senior relationship managers. Lau and Wong look after the Hong Kong market, while Chu covers the China market. Lau was previously from UBS, Wong from Wing Lung and Chu from HSBC.
Daniel Lee and Zhang Leshang have joined Credit Suisse as relationship managers. Lee is based in Hong Kong and covers the Taiwan market, while Zhang is based in Singapore and responsible for the Greater China market.
Credit Suisse declined to comment on whom they report to.
PHILIP TSO QUITS WILLIS TOWERS WATSON
Philip Tso, who has led Willis Towers Watson’s investment business at in Hong Kong and Asia since 2008, will leave the consultancy in mid-October, and join an asset management company in a regional role, a WTW spokesperson said.
AsianInvestor couldn’t ascertain which firm Tso will join by press time.
His responsibilities at WTW will be shared by the Asia leadership team and will be overseen by Jayne Bok, Asia head of investments, the spokesperson said.
JLL POACHES ASIA FUND ADVISORY HEAD, SHUFFLES KOREAN LEADERSHIP
Scarlett Dorney will join as a director of client business, responsible for leading the multi-manager and institutional sales strategy for a portfolio of key clients.
Effective at the end of October, she will be based in Sydney and report to Jason Collins, head of BlackRock's Australasia client business. Dorney was most recently a vice president at MSCI’s index team in Australia.
Jeannie Bredberg joined in July in the role of director for the retail client business. Based in Melbourne, she is responsible for wealth advisory sales in the Southern region. She reports to Stuart Dunn who has assumed increased responsibility running the wealth advisory team for Australia, the company said in a statement. Bredberg was most recently a business manager at BT Financial Group until January this year.
James Waterworth rejoined BlackRock from September as a vice president and iShares specialist. He is based in Melbourne and reports to Alex Zaika, head of Wealth for the firms iShares business in Australia. Waterworth had previously worked for BlackRock in London as vice president until October 2013. He was most recently a director for UK ETF sales at Lyxor Asset Management in London.
EASTSPRING HIRES NEW ALTS CIO AND DIRECTOR
Eastspring Investments has appointed two senior executives into its new alternatives team.
Effective September 29, Nadir Maruf (pictured left) has become CIO, alternatives at Eastspring, while Duncan Black joins the asset manager as investment director on the same day. Both of them are based in Singapore.
Black will report to Maruf, who will report to CIO Virginie Maisonneuve, also based in Singapore.
The alternative investments team is new and combines Eastspring’s private equity and infrastructure offerings. The asset manager has over $5 billion in assets under management in alternatives, according to a company spokeswoman.
Prior to joining Eastspring, Maruf was partner and CEO at Daestrum Capital, while Black was partner and CFO at Daestrum Capital, which cannot be reached for comment.
UBP NAMES HEAD OF SOUTH ASIA INVESTMENT ADVISOR TEAM
UBP has hired Adele Yeo as managing director and head of investment advisors for South Asia effect October 10.
Based in Singapore, she will report to Ranjit Khanna, market head, South Asia and non-resident Indians (NRI) Asia and Middle East.
Yeo joins from Citigroup, where she was an equity sales director, according to her LinkedIn.
UBP declined to comment whether Yeo’s role is new or if she replaces anyone.
Citi did not respond by the time AsianInvestor went to press.
VANGUARD HIRES PORTFOLIO REVIEW CHIEF FOR CHINA
Vanguard has named Freddie Chen as head of portfolio review, China, effective October 9.
In this new role, Chen will oversee Vanguard’s product strategy for China, reporting to Charles Lin, managing director and head of China, and Yan Pu, head of portfolio review, Asia.
The announcement comes after Vanguard launched its wholly foreign owned enterprise (WFOE) in Shanghai in May 2017.
The WFOE’s legal representative is Charles Lin, and Clare Zhao is general manager of Vanguard Investment Management (Shanghai).
Other new members of the China team include Lei Yao, head of marketing and communications, China, and Eric Cao, head of finance, China.
Yao joined from Standard Chartered Bank, while Cao joined from Fosun Group. Both of them joined Vanguard on June 1. Fosun did not respond to queries by AsianInvestor, while StanChart declined to comment.
Chen was previously managing director at China Asset Management (Hong Kong). He left early October and no replacement has been announced yet, a person familiar with the matter told AsianInvestor.
Chen led sales and business development at his previous firm. With his departure, the teams under his management will now function independently, and are being supervised by chief executive Zhang Xiaolin.
FRANKLIN TEMPLETON INVESTMENTS APPOINTS AUSTRALIA MD
Franklin Templeton Investments Australia will appoint Matthew Harrison as managing director Australia, effective January 2018.
Harrison will be based in Sydney, where he will be responsible for leading and managing the firm’s Australian business growth, overseeing the local distribution teams and developing business strategy.
He will report to Mark Browning, managing director for Asia Pacific based in Singapore.
Harrison will replace Maria Wilton, who will transition to a new role within the firm, a spokesman for the company said.
Matthew Harrison was with Colonial First State as general manager for distribution.
AsianInvestor was unable to ascertain before press time whether Harrison had left Colonial First State or still at the firm.
CRYPTOCURRENCY PLATFORM MONACO NAMES NEW SENIOR VP
Cryptocurrency and payments platform Monaco has appointed a new executive from its advisory board.
Effective October 3, advisory board member Brent Diehl (pictured below left) has been named senior vice president of international expansion, reporting to co-founder and chief executive Kris Marszalek, according to a company spokeswoman.
The newly created role will be based in Singapore, the spokeswoman said, where Diehl will lead the Switzerland-based company’s global rollout efforts as it further expands into Asia Pacific, Europe, and North America.
Prior to his appointment, these duties were covered by Marszalek, as well as by co-founder and chief financial officer Rafael Melo, with Diehl’s assistance in his capacity as advisory board member, said the spokeswoman.
Diehl was most recently founder and managing director of digital payments consultancy firm Alliance Payment Solutions in Singapore. He will remain involved as a director and the controlling shareholder, a company spokeswoman said.
He has also managed prepaid partner solutions at Visa for Asia Pacific, CIS, Middle East, and Africa, was senior director of international cards and financial services director at Western Union, and director of international markets and senior manager of financial services at Home Depot, according to his LinkedIn.
RHTLAW TAYLOR WESSING CREATES NEW PRIVATE WEALTH ROLE
International law firm RHTLaw Taylor Wessing has named Benjamin Szeto as partner and deputy head of its private wealth practice.
Effective October 1, Singapore-based Szeto will provide advice to the law firm’s high net worth clients on personal wealth structures, commercial investments, and business succession and transactions, a company spokesman said.
The role is newly created, and he will report to co-head of practice Tan Chong Huat, the spokesman added.
Most recently, Szeto was at Singapore-based boutique law firm Savoir, a practice he founded in 2014, which claims to specialise in solutions, strategies, and structures for clients. He is also on the board of advisers for Singaporean asset manager BlueHill Asset Management, according to his LinkedIn, and he has almost 20 years experience in advising high net worth individuals, business owners, financial institutions and corporations.
Szeto is a registered trust and estate practitioner of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners.
Savoir did not respond to AsianInvestor queries by press time.
DBS HIRES CHIEF ECONOMIST
Singapore bank DBS has named a new chief economist as its former executive in the role retires.
Taimur Baig (pictured left) has joined DBS on October 9 as chief economist and managing director for group research. He reports to Timothy Wong, managing director and head of DBS group research. Both of the men are based in Singapore.
Baig takes over from David Carbon, the former chief economist with the bank, who is retiring.
Prior to joining DBS, Baig was the principal economist at the economic policy group at the Monetary Authority of Singapore.
Other people news reported on AsianInvestor in the past week:
Schroders adds deputy head of multi-asset for Asia