Weekly roundup of people news, Aug 16
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GIC VETERAN JOINS GENZERO AS ADVISOR
Ong Sei-Wei joined Temasek-backed GenZero as an investment advisor.
He was most recently managing director at GIC, where he led the origination, execution, and monitoring of capital deployed across a range of investment vehicles, including direct investments, co-investments and funds.
Ong will have an advisory role within GenZero's Investment group, a spokesperson told AsianInvestor.
Ong joined GIC in 2003 and worked in various investment-related roles at the Singaporean state-owned investor.
GenZero is the decarbonisation investment platform of Temasek.
GIC did not respond to a query about Ong's replacement.
CPP INVESTMENTS VETERAN KIM SUYI TO LEAVE
Canada Pension Plan Investment Board’s (CPP Investments) senior managing director and global head of private equity Kim Suyi is leaving after 17 years.
Kim joined CPP Investments in Hong Kong in 2007 as managing director and head of private equity Asia.
She opened the Canadian pension fund’s Hong Kong office in 2008, establishing its presence in the Asia-Pacific region. She became head of Asia Pacific in 2016.
A successor has been named.
Read more in a published story here.
BNPP AM APPOINTS HEAD OF HK, MACAU INSTITUTIONAL SALES
BNP Paribas Asset Management (BNPP AM) appointed Florence Wong as head of Institutional sales in Hong Kong and Macau, effective August 5.
Based in Hong Kong, Wong reports to Mike Nikou, BNPP AM Asia Pacific chief executive officer.
Wong succeeds Ross Lu, who will be transitioning to a new role within the BNP Paribas Group.
A spokesperson declined to comment further on Lu’s new role.
Wong joins BNPP AM from Macquarie Asset Management where she was the Asia Investment specialist and responsible for driving business development for public markets across Asia.
A spokesperson declined to comment to AsianInvestor’s enquiries regarding Wong’s departure and replacement.
Capital Group appointed Stella Xu as head of institutional business for Greater China, effective immediately.
Based in Hong Kong, she will report to Toby Chan, head of client group for Greater China.
Xu will be responsible for leading Greater China institutional strategy.
This role was previously managed out of Singapore and will now be based in Hong Kong to better support clients across Greater China.
The previous person in this role in Singapore has left the company, the firm told AsianInvestor.
Xu joins from Fidelity International, where she was most recently (until April) head of institutional sales for China and Hong Kong SAR.
She also worked at PIMCO and BlackRock.
David Leishman, Fidelity International's head of consultant relations and institutional strategic business development, APAC ex-Japan, has expanded the scope of his role to oversee the institutional team for mainland China and Hong Kong, a spokesperson told AsianInvestor.
VONTOBEL HIRES ASIA INTERMEDIARY CLIENTS HEAD
Vontobel appointed Clarabelle Ho head of intermediary clients Asia to support the firm’s client engagements across the region, effective August 16.
Ho is based in Singapore and reports to Wei Kai Lee, head of institutional clients and asset management in Asia Pacific, a spokesperson told AsianInvestor.
Ho replaces Benny Gay, who left the firm in November last year, the spokesperson added.
Ho was most recently at BlackRock, where she was responsible for intermediary distribution as part of the Wealth APAC client business team in Singapore.
BlackRock did not respond to request for comments at the time of publication.
She previously held roles at UBS Asset Management and BNP Paribas Investment Partners.
This brief has been updated with new details.
NEUBERGER BERMAN HIRES FOR FAMILY OFFICES IN HK, SOUTHEAST ASIA
Neuberger Berman appointed Simon Cheung as senior vice president to spearhead its single family office efforts in Hong Kong and Southeast Asia.
He reports to Greg Wu, head of institutional client group for Southeast Asia, Hong Kong, and Taiwan.
Cheung was most recently with UBS and left his latest role as director of private markets in North Asia at UBS Global Wealth Management in July, AsianInvestor understands.
Frank Chan, who joined UBS earlier this year from ABCI Capital, took over Cheung's latest role. Chan reports to Monica Liu, head of private markets in North Asia.
Cheung previously held roles at China Minsheng Financial, JP Morgan, and Goldman Sachs.
Neuberger Berman did not respond to AsianInvestor’s request for comments on where Cheung will be based, or whether her role is newly created.
UBS declined to comment.
ART HIRES NEW CFO
Australian Retirement Trust (ART), one of Australia's largest superannuation funds, has appointed Phil Fraser as its new chief financial officer, effective October 1.
Fraser, who brings over 25 years of financial services experience, most recently served as CEO of ART Life.
He will replace Anthony Rose, who has announced he will be pursuing other opportunities.
Rose will remain until Fraser assumes the role to ensure a smooth transition.
Fraser's background includes executive roles at Standard Life, QSuper, and Great Southern Bank.
Matthew Finney will step in as interim CEO of ART Life.
GLOBAL X ETFS HIRES PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT HEAD
Global X ETFs appointed Chris Wolak as head of portfolio management, starting in October.
Based in Sydney, Wolak will oversee the company's ETF product line-up across various asset classes, managing over A$7.6 billion in assets.
He replaces Cliff Man, who is departing after more than a decade with the firm.
Wolak brings 18 years of experience, most recently from UBS Global Asset Management, where he led the index portfolio management team in Australia for 12 years.
Prior to UBS, he held positions in portfolio management and trading at other financial institutions.
Wolak will report to Young Kim, chief global officer of Mirae Asset Global Investments, Global X's parent company.
His appointment comes amid some recent high-profile exits from the firm, including CEO Evan Metcalf's upcoming departure.
John Byrne has been promoted to head of indexing Australia at UBS Asset Management, replacing Wolak, a spokesperson for the firm told AsianInvestor.
Byrne, with 21 years of industry experience including 14 years in index investing at UBS, will lead the Australian indexing team as part of UBS's recently consolidated global indexing structure.
LIGHTHOUSE CANTON EXPANDS WITH THREE HIRES
Singapore-based wealth management firm Lighthouse Canton appointed three senior executives to its leadership team across Singapore and London
Amrit Singh, Henrik Aslaksen, and Balaji Prasanna, who co-founded wealth management firm AWM Capital Partners after their stints at Deutsche Bank and Credit Suisse, will join the executive committee of Lighthouse Canton.
Singh will also join the board of directors.
Singh, who joins as the global head of key clients and institutions, was most recently managing director and head of wealth management for global South Asia at Deutsche Bank.
Prasanna, Deutsche Bank’s vice chairman based in London, joins as executive vice chairman, key client solutions, to offer global wealth solutions for clients.
Singh and Prasanna will be based in Singapore.
Aslaksen will become president, Lighthouse Canton International, responsible for expanding Lighthouse Canton’s capabilities and reach with family-owned enterprises and owners.
He will be based in London.
His career includes leadership roles at Credit Suisse and Deutsche Bank.
All three will join in the next couple of months after regulatory approvals are received.
*This news brief has been updated since its original publication.