Weekly roundup of people news, Aug 14

BMO GLOBAL AM NAMES NEW ASIA HEAD AND NEW GLOBAL CEO FOR LGM

June Lui

Canada’s BMO Global Asset Management has appointed June Lui as head of Asia Pacific in addition to her role as lead portfolio manager for LGM Greater China equities.

It has also hired Fredrik Axsater as chief executive of the group's LGM investment division and chief commercial officer of ESG. He joined in mid-July from Wells Fargo Asset Management, where he was head of the institutional client group base in San Francisco. He has moved to London for the new role. Wells Fargo declined to comment.

Lui reports to Axsater, and the two of them take on duties previously held by Raveendra (‘Ravi’) Sriskandarajah, who had been both head of Asia Pacific and CEO of LGM.

Sriskandarajah left BMO last month and will join Australian asset manager QIC in September as executive director of client solutions and capital. He will relocate from Hong Kong to Brisbane for the new role to replace Brian Delaney, who will retire at the end of 2020. 

Lui has been with BMO Global AM for 13 years across roles in portfolio management, research, investment services and product development.

Sriskandarajah was with BMO Global AM for some seven years, before which he was Australia head of institutional business at US fund house BlackRock.

This story has been updated to include the hire of Fredrik Axsater.

WASATCH GLOBAL INVESTORS NAMES FIRST APAC SALES HEAD

Wasatch Global Investors, a US fund manager, has hired Amelia Kennedy from Australian bank ANZ as its first head of Asia Pacific distribution, as of July 27.

She has joined the institutional business development team to manage relationships with institutional clients and consultants and will relocate from Sydney to Wasatch's headquarters in Salt Lake City in Utah.

Kennedy reports to Eric Bergeson, president of Wasatch, who said she would expand on the firm's platform in Australia, which it has built with the help of distribution partner Terrain Placement Services. Wasatch manages A$788 million ($564 million) for Australian clients out of its total assets under management of $22.3 billion.

Kennedy was previously head of research and governance at ANZ Private Banking & Advice. It is understood that Ben McBride, a member of the investment research team, has replaced her.

Wasatch's roots are in US small-cap investing, but it also offers global and regional small-cap strategies, and global and emerging market all-cap strategies.

GERMAN PROPERTY INVESTMENT FIRM NAMES JAPAN CHIEF

Takehiko Uehara

Patrizia, a German real estate investment manager, has appointed Takehiko Uehara as Japan president and country manager, effective on August 12.

He reports to Thomas Wels, Patrizia’s Switzerland-based co-chief executive. Uehara was previously chief investment officer at Patrizia and prior to that CIO of Kenzo Capital Corp, which was acquired by Patrizia in 2019.

He will retain his duties as CIO, a company spokesman said, declining to comment on who had been president and country manager previously.

DIMENSIONAL HIRING ANALYST IN SINGAPORE

Dimensional Fund Advisors, a Texas-based manager with $514 billion in client assets, wants to add an analyst to its portfolio management team in Singapore. The deadline for applications is August 23.

EAST CAPITAL SEEKS EM RESEARCH ANALYST

Swedish fund manager East Capital is looking to recruit an analyst for its global emerging markets team to be based in Hong Kong, Stockholm or Moscow, with a deadline of September 15 for applications.

The new hire will provide support for senior investment managers on equities in emerging markets across Asia with a focus on China and South Korea.

FIRST EAGLE HIRES INTERNATIONAL WHOLESALE HEAD

New York-based First Eagle Investment Management has hired a new head of international wholesale business and is eyeing Asia as a growth business. Matthieu Louanges will set up and oversee the firm's new office in Munich once it opens late this year.

Matthieu Louanges

Having joined from Pimco on August 3, Louanges will oversee wholesale clients across Europe, the Middle East and Africa (Emea), Asia and other non-US markets. He reports to Mehdi Mahmud, president and chief executive of First Eagle.

The firm, with $101 billion under management, expects Asia and South America to be particularly important regions of business growth moving forward, it said in a release last week.

Louanges succeeds Robert Hackney, a 25-year veteran of First Eagle. Hackney will remain with the firm, first to assist in the transition of his function to Louanges and then as an adviser to Mahmud and the leadership team on strategic initiatives.

Louanges spent some 20 years at Pimco, where he most recently headed the firm’s global relationship with its parent insurer Allianz. He had also launched US fund house’s Emea insurance channel.

HK SFC BANS SECURITIES EXEC FOR 18 MONTHS

Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) has banned Chan Yiu-Ting, a former account executive of China Tonghai Securities (CTS), from re-entering the industry for 18 months from August 12, 2020 to February 11, 2022, for unauthorised trading of a client’s shares.

Between April 2011 and June 2018, Chan had effected 6,031 trades involving some $573 million worth of shares in a client’s account on a discretionary basis without obtaining prior written authorisation.

In doing so, he failed to comply with the policies and procedures of CTS, formerly known as Oceanwide Securities and Quam Securities Company, in relation to discretionary accounts.

In deciding on the sanction, the SFC took into account all relevant circumstances, including the duration of Chan’s misconduct and his otherwise clean disciplinary record.