Weekly roundup of people news, April 17
HKEx hires for new mainland division
Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEx) has made a number of appointments to its new mainland China division, along with senior management changes in its existing global markets division.
The bourse's newly-established division is comprised of HKEx’s mainland development team in Hong Kong, its representative office in Beijing and related offices in Shanghai and Guangzhou. HKEx chief executive Charles Li said the new division reflected the importance of China business following the launch of the Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect scheme and the bourse's aim to develop more connectivity with mainland exchanges.
The mainland division will be co-headed by Mao Zhirong, who led the mainland development team before it became part of the new division, and Li Gang, who had been a senior adviser since joining HKEx in March 2013. Both started in their new positions on Monday.
Mao joined HKEx from the Shenzhen Stock Exchange (SZSE) in May 2013. While there, HKEx said he played a “significant role” in implementation of the Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect programme. Mao and his team will not be replaced following their incorporation into the new division.
Mao’s most recent positions at SZSE included director of strategy and international affairs, director of the financial innovation lab and head of the derivative product task force. He joined SZSE in 2001 as a deputy director in the member supervision department.
From 1993 to 2001, Mao worked at Wellpoint, one of the largest health benefits companies in the US. He held a variety of positions in information technology, product development and risk management.
Li Gang had senior management roles at several mainland futures firms before founding Shanghai Billionton Metal in 2004 and serving as its chief executive until 2012.
The mainland division includes the new post of chief China economist, which will be filled by Ba Shusong, whose start date at HKEx is pending confirmation. Ba is a former deputy director general of the Financial Research Institute of the State Council’s Development Research Centre. He was formerly chief economist at the China Banking Association and a member of Hong Kong’s Economic Development Commission. All three appointments will report to Charles Li.
Meanwhile, HKEx’s global markets division has made several appointments.
HKEx has appointed Roger Lee to the new post of deputy head of global markets for Asia. He started in his new position on Monday and will continue to report to Romesh Lamba, co-head of global markets. Lee retains his previous role as head of market operations.
He joined the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong, now a wholly-owned subsidiary of HKEx, in March 1997. His HKEx roles have included head of structured products, fixed income and primary market information in HKEx’s listing and regulatory affairs division. He has also been head of information services, head of cash market, co-head of information technology and head of listing operations.
Kevin Rideout joined HKEx on Monday as head of business development, a newly-created position in the global markets division. He will be responsible for the division's business development and marketing teams and will report to Lamba.
Rideout joined HKEx from Citigroup, where he served most recently as head of wholesale execution services, Asia, and chief spokesman on the implementation of Stock Connect.
Citi appoints new Asia CEO
Citigroup will have a new Asia CEO after the current chief Stephen Bird was this week named as the new head of Citi’s global consumer bank division. He will leave Hong Kong to move to New York.
Francisco Aristeguieta, currently CEO of Latin America, will succeed Bird and become CEO of Asia Pacific. Aristeguieta will relocate from Miami to Hong Kong and report to Citi CEO Michael Corbat. Aristeguieta has been Latin America CEO since November 2011.
Jane Fraser, current chief of Citi’s US retail, commercial banking, and global mortgage businesses, will succeed Aristeguieta to become CEO of Latin America. All three appointments will take effect from June 1.
Aristeguieta joined Citigroup in 1994 as vice-president and senior relationship manager for the corporate bank division. In 1997, he became head of the corporate bank, financial institutions and public sector, for Citi Venezuela. He has also served as Citi Transaction Services head for Latin America and Mexico.
Before joining Citigroup, Aristeguieta worked for Vestcor Partners, for which he covered debt capital markets for Venezuela, Colombia and Brazil, and, prior to that, for Petroleos de Venezuela's Project Finance Group.
Northern Trust hires for Melbourne AM team
Northern Trust has established an asset management sales and client servicing team in its Melbourne, Australia office. Shane Teunissen joined the firm on April 13 as senior institutional sales manager, and will focus on servicing clients in Australia and New Zealand. Ann-Marie Garry joined the office on March 2 as sales associate for Northern Trust in Australia.
Prior to Joining Northern Trust, Teunissen was a vice-president at BlackRock in Melbourne. He was a member of BlackRock's institutional client business group and was responsible for developing and maintaining relationships with institutional clients in Australia and New Zealand. Teunissen joined BlackRock in February 2007 and left in March 2015.
Garry joined Northern Trust following its acquisition of Bank of Ireland Securities Services in 2011. She has worked as a senior analyst in Northern Trust’s Dublin office and was most recently a sales associate for Northern Trust’s asset servicing business in Melbourne.
Asked about its future hiring plans, a Northern Trust spokeswoman said the firm saw “significant opportunity in the Australian market and will grow with our client demand”.
Old Mutual appoints new group CEO
South African financial services group Old Mutual has appointed Bruce Hemphill as its new group chief executive. Hemphill is expected to assume the role in the fourth quarter of this year, and current group CEO Julian Roberts will remain in his position until then. Johannesburg-based Hemphill will be relocating to London for the new role. Roberts, who has been CEO since September 2008, would take a break and consider what he wants to do next after leaving the firm, an Old Mutual spokesman said.
Hemphill is currently chief executive of wealth, insurance and non-bank financial services at Standard Bank in South Africa. From June 2006 to February 2014, he was chief executive of African financial services group, Liberty. Before joining Liberty, he held a number of roles in asset management and banking.
Meanwhile Old Mutual Global Investors, the parent firm’s asset management arm, yesterday announced that its entire Asian equities team had now received regulatory approval to operate from its Hong Kong office. It gives the business on-the-ground fund management capabilities in Asia. The Asian equities team consists of four members: Josh Crabb, Diamond Lee, Kris Whitlock and Dmitry Lapidus.
The team runs three funds: the Old Mutual Asian Equity Fund and the Old Mutual Pacific Equity Fund are managed by Crabb, who joined in October 2014; the Old Mutual Greater China Equity Fund is managed by Lee, who joined the business in November 2014. The Asian equities team manages $500 million in the region.
RidgeWorth hires MD for Asia sovereign wealth
Asset manager RidgeWorth International has recruited Rahul Shah as managing director for sovereign wealth and official institutions. London-based Shah joined the firm on April 3 and reports to Patrick Mc Nelis, managing director of RidgeWorth International.
In the newly-created role Shah will lead RidgeWorth Investments’ direct institutional sales and marketing efforts in the firm’s new London office, which is its first international venture. Working with RidgeWorth’s institutional sales and client service team in the US, Shah will focus on the marketing of RidgeWorth’s entire product suite to sovereign wealth entities and central banks in Asia, the Middle East and Europe.
Shah most recently served as global head of business development for official institutions at London-based State Street Global Advisors (SSGA). In that capacity, he was primarily responsible for developing relationships and providing solutions for official institutional clients, such as central banks, pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, and government bodies globally. Shah worked at SSGA from 2007-2014. Previously, he held senior business development roles at Commonwealth Bank of Australia in Sydney, where he worked from 2002-2007.
RidgeWorth and its asset management boutiques have an AUM of about $43.7 billion as of March 31 this year.
FTSE hires ESG Asia-Pacific head
Arisa Kishigami started in a new role as Tokyo-based head of ESG Asia Pacific for index provider FTSE on April 13. London-based John Jarrett and New York-based Tony Campos were appointed head of global ESG research and head of ESG Americas respectively on the same day.
Kishigami was previously a senior member of FTSE’s ESG research team before being elevated to the newly-created role. Like Jarrett and Campos, she will report to London-based David Harris, head of FTSE ESG.
ESG issues and the general themes around stewardship are now starting to play a more prominent role in Asia, said a spokesman for FTSE’s parent company, the LSE Group. Last September, 160 global institutions signed up to Japan’s new stewardship code. In October 2014, FTSE was awarded a mandate to research how Japan’s Government Pension Investment Fund should undertake stewardship responsibilities and ESG investment.
Other people news reported by AsianInvestor in the past week:
OMGI chief looks to hire star managers for Asia build-out
Temasek CEO to go on unexplained leave for 3 months