Weekly roundup of people news, Aug 15
BNY Mellon names new Japan chief
BNY Mellon has hired Douglas Hymas from ING Investment Management as country executive for Japan and general manager of its Tokyo branch.
Effective immediately, Hymas becomes chief strategist, leader and senior representative with regulators and clients across BNY Mellon’s business groups, which includes asset management and asset services.
He reports to Gregory Roath, the firm’s Asia-Pacific head of global client management based in Singapore.
Hymas replaces Thom Fisher, who had served as Japan executive between October 2010 and February this year. He has since moved to London to work for a boutique consulting firm called Chetak Enterprises.
Previously Hymas had worked as head of ING Investment Management since 2009.
Last year BNY Mellon AM also acquired a six-strong Japanese equity team from ING IM, led by Miyuki Kashima, head of Japanese equity.
A spokesperson for ING IM said the firm would announce a replacement for Hymas in due course. Kyogo Oda will act as representative director of ING IM Japan in the interim.
Barings appoints global CIO from Schroders
UK fund house Baring Asset Management has hired Ken Lambden from Schroder Investment Management as its new global chief investment officer.
Effective from September 16, Lambden will be based in London and report to chairman and chief executive officer David Brennan.
He comes in to replace Marino Valensise, who is stepping down to head the firm’s multi-asset group. Both Valensise and Wilfred Sit, the firm’s Asia CIO based in Hong Kong, will report to Lambden when he comes on board.
Valensise replaces Percival Stanion, who quit recently as head of the multi-asset group to take up an external opportunity. Andrew Cole and Shaniel Ramjee have also resigned from the multi-asset team.
Barings has since announced the appointment of Sonja Laud as investment manager within its multi-asset income team. Laud, who also joins from Schroders, will be based in London and report to Valensise.
Previously Lambden served as global head of equities for Schroder Investment Management. Prior to that he was CEO and CIO for the group’s Australian business with responsibility for the division’s equity, fixed income and multi-asset teams.
Schroders announced in April that Alex Tedder would become head of global equities, to replace Lambden.
TPG taps Goldman for Korean PE executive
Private equity group TPG has hired Lee Seung-june from Goldman Sachs to help the firm source deals in South Korea, according to sources.
A Korean national, Lee will remain based in Hong Kong. Most recently he was focused on financial institutions and M&A as an executive director at Goldman Sachs, where he had worked for the past eight years.
The South Korean market had been fruitful for TPG, notably its investment in nationalised Korea First Bank (KFB), which it cleaned up after the 1997 Asian financial crisis.
TPG acquired roughly half of KFB in 1999 for W500 billion ($490 million) and more then doubled its money when it sold the bank to Standard Chartered in 2005. TPG’s joint venture with Blum Capital – Newbridge Capital – was responsible for the deal.
But TPG shuttered its Korea office after selling KFB amid a backlash against foreign funds making money on bailed out state assets.
Since leaving Korea, TPG has cooperated with a local buyout fund called Vogo Investment Group to keep an eye on developments in Korea. Vogo’s managing partner Byung Moo Park was the Korea country head at TPG Newbridge Capital.
TPG’s focus in Asia Pacific remains on the higher-growth markets of China and India. It plans to focus on mid-market deals in Korea, as mega-deals in Korea have become very competitive and expensive, fuelled by an abundance of cheap funding.
Citi names Hong Kong retail head
The Hong Kong branch of US consumer bank Citi has appointed Angel Ng as head of retail banking products with immediate effect.
She takes responsibility for management and development of the bank’s retail product range in Hong Kong, including investment funds and research, insurance, mortgage and brokerage advisory.
She will report to Christine Lam, Citi’s Hong Kong business manager. Ng replaces Fanny Lum, who had only been appointed to the role in April last year.
The move represents a second coming for Ng. She first joined Citi in 1998 and held various positions, including as head of segment marketing.
Most recently she was in a senior brand marketing role at consumer group Procter & Gamble.
Citi replaces China securities head
Citi’s securities services division is planning to transfer Harry Peng into a new role as China head based in Shanghai, AsianInvestor understands.
Effective from January next year, Peng is set to report to Andrew Au, chief executive of Citi China, and David Russell, Asia region head of Citi’s securities services division.
Peng is currently based in Hong Kong with the multi-asset group, where his responsibilities include product and strategy development, with a focus on building cross-border investment management relationships in China.
Peng is set to step into the boots of Kevin Wong, who stepped down as China head in July. Wong has since become head of sector solutions for Asia Pacific, based in Hong Kong, as reported. It is understood Vanessa Wang will act as China head in the interim.
Prior to working for the multi-asset group, Peng worked on Citi’s global markets desk for Asia Pacific. Before that he served on the hybrid fund derivative trading desk in New York, where his team managed the trading of risk positions in mutual funds, hedge funds and fund-linked products.
He has also worked for Lehman Brothers in New York as a quantitative analyst in that firm’s fixed income proprietary trading business.
A spokesperson for Citi did not confirm or deny Peng’s change of role.
SocGen shuffles research heads
French bank Société Générale announced that its Asia Pacific chief economist Klaus Baader will take on an additional role as Asia research head for its cross-asset team.
Effective from September 1, Baader will continue to be based in Hong Kong to run regional research on economics, commodities, credit, currencies, interest rates and equities within the corporate and investment banking divisions.
He will report to both global head of research Patrick Legland and Frank Drouet, head of global markets for Asia Pacific.
Baader takes over the Asia research role from Guy Stear, who has been promoted to global head of credit strategy based in Paris.
Dechert opens Singapore office
Law firm Dechert has opened an office in Singapore and appointed Dean Collins as managing partner.
The new office – its third in the region – will be run by a three-man team, with a regional focus on private equity, real estate, venture capital and hedge funds.
Explaining the decision to set up in Singapore, Collins tells AsianInvestor: “Singapore is growing in importance as an asset management hub, particularly for Southeast Asia. This is a strategic focus for the city-state. In light of this it's a natural choice for our third office in Asia.”
However, Collins says he has not made a decision yet on whether to apply for a qualifying foreign law practice (QFLP) licence. Many foreign firms have received QFLP permits including Sidley Austin in 2013, allowing it to practice local law in the city state instead of needing to partner law firms in other jurisdictions.
Dechert’s two other Asia offices are in Hong Kong and Beijing, set up in 2007 and 2008, respectively.
Other people news reported by AsianInvestor in the past week:
GSAM hires in private bank sales drive
Tahnoon Pasha building multi-family office
Korea’s Teachers’ Pension to set up overseas team