Weekly roundup of people news, Aug 10
ABERDEEN SI NAMES HONG KONG HEAD
UK fund house Aberdeen Standard Investments has appointed David Lam as head of Hong Kong.
Lam manages the Hong Kong team and is also responsible for supporting Aberdeen’s relationships with key investors and distributors in Hong Kong.
An Aberdeen spokeswoman said Lam started on August 6. He fills the shoes of former Hong Kong head David Peng, who left in May.
Lam reports to Ian Macdonald, deputy head of Asia Pacific based in Singapore.
He was most recently chairman of the advisory board at multi-family office Carret Private Investments. Lam exited the multi-family office before summer (in February, according to his LinkedIn profile), and was not replaced as he did not have an active business role, a Carret spokesman said.
STANDARD CHARTERED PB POACHES DBS WEALTH EXECUTIVES
UK wealth manager Standard Chartered Private Bank has named two former DBS executives as managing directors and team leaders in its global South Asian community (GSAC) team.
Murtaza Gilani and Hussain Poonawala oversee a team of relationship managers that support Standard Chartered’s South Asian wealth clients via its Singapore booking centre, a Standard Chartered spokeswoman said.
Gilani started his role on July 27 and Poonawala started on August 1, the spokeswoman added.
They are both based in Singapore, and report to Srinivas Siripurapu, head of private banking for Asean (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) and South Asia and global head of GSAC.
Their roles are newly created as Standard Chartered has added six relationship managers to its GSAC team since June, creating a need for additional team leaders, the spokeswoman said.
Both executives came from Singapore-based DBS’s private banking business. Gilani was most recently a senior director and Poonawala was a vice president and relationship manager, according to their LinkedIn profiles.
DBS Bank did not respond to AsianInvestor queries on Gilani and Poonawala’s last titles at the bank, when they left, and who would replace them.
CITI PB HIRES DIRECTOR OF ALTS IN SINGAPORE
Citi Private Bank has hired Brad McCarthy as Singapore-based director of alternatives in its investment sales team.
McCarthy joined in mid-May and reports to Julie Koo, managing director and head of Citi investment management sales for Asia Pacific. Koo is based in Hong Kong.
He is involved with alternatives product selection as well as sales of alternatives products. The role is not specifically for Citi Private Bank in Singapore. He is part of the regional Asia Pacific team, which ultimately deals with clients all across the region and beyond, given most private banking clients have a global remit, a company spokeswoman said.
Citi declined to comment on who McCarthy was replacing.
McCarthy joins Citi from EnTrustPermal, the hedge fund investment arm of Legg Mason. McCarthy was Singapore-based managing director for international sales at EnTrustPermal, a position he left in April, according to a company spokeswoman. She declined to comment on who was taking care of his duties after his departure.
HEITMAN APPOINTS DIRECTOR OF APAC ACQUISITIONS
US real estate investment management firm Heitman has named Brad Fu as senior vice-president and director of Asia-Pacific acquisitions.
Fu leads Heitman’s Asia-Pacific acquisitions team and is responsible for managing the team’s resources in order to source, analyse and value potential investments and joint ventures in real estate across the region, a Heitman spokeswoman said.
He started on August 1, and the role is newly created, she added.
Prior to Fu’s appointment, Skip Schwartz, managing director of Heitman’s Asia-Pacific private real estate equity group, led the Asia-Pacific acquisitions team, the spokeswoman said.
Fu is based in Hong Kong and reports to Schwartz.
He was most recently director of global real estate investments at Anbang Asset Management. Fu's responsibilities have been transferred to associate director of real estate Jenny Chen, an Anbang spokeswoman said.
Anbang AM did not respond to a query on Fu’s departure date.
BLACKROCK HIRES ASIAN PRIVATE CREDIT MD IN INDIA
BlackRock has appointed Rajat Agrawal as a Mumbai-based managing director in its Asian private credit team.
He assumed the role on August 6 and reports to Neeraj Seth, Singapore-based head of Asian credit. He focuses on researching to develop strategy for opportunistic credit, including distressed and non-performing loans, as well as sourcing and assessing pipelines in India.
It is a new position and represents the first senior hire in India for BlackRock’s private credit platform, a company spokesman said. The fund house feels it is important to have on-the-ground expertise to originate deals locally to tap opportunities there.
In his latest role, Agrawal was executive director of the institutional banking group at DBS India. DBS declined to comment on his departure.
VP BANK HIRES PB HEAD FOR SEA
VP Bank has hired Karen Tan as Singapore-based head of private banking for Southeast Asia.
Tan starts the role at the Liechtenstein-based boutique private bank today (August 10), a company spokesman said. The bank declined to comment on who she reports to, whom she has replaced and whether this is a new role.
Tan was previously a Singapore-based managing director at Indosuez’s wealth management unit, according to her LinkedIn profile. Indosuez declined to comment on her departure.
Other people news reported by AsianInvestor in the last week:
Bank of Singapore hires Rajeev De Mello as CIO