Weekly roundup of people news, Aug 20
HSBC NAMES NEW GLOBAL FIXED INCOME CIO
HSBC Asset Management has appointed Michael Cross as global fixed income chief investment officer (CIO), effective September 1. Based in London, Cross reports to Xavier Baraton, global CIO.
Cross was most recently vice-chair of the institutional business at HSBC Asset Management, which he joined in 2015 as global head of official sector institutions. His replacement will be announced in due course, according to HSBS Asset Management’s spokeswoman.
Prior to joining HSBC, Cross spent over three years at the International Monetary Fund and 20 years at the Bank of England – the last 12 of which he led a large investment team comprising portfolio managers, foreign exchange dealers, and policy, research and market intelligence managers and analysts.
Cross succeeds Baraton who was appointed to the global CIO position in July this year and previously held senior executive roles such as global CIO, global fixed income CIO and global private debt & alternatives CIO.
HSBC Asset Management has also gone through a restructuring, where all alternatives and private debt capabilities now form part of new unit HSBC Alternatives under Joanna Munro’s leadership. Further announcements on the organisational structure for HSBC Alternatives will be announced in due course, a spokeswoman told AsianInvestor.
FORMER HSBC APAC CIO JOINS EASTSPRING AS HEAD OF EQUITIES
Bill Maldonado, former Asia Pacific chief investment officer at HSBC Global Asset Management, has joined Eastspring Investments, the $254 billion Asian investment management arm of life insurer Prudential, as head of equities, Eastspring announced on Thursday.
This appointment aims to expand Eastspring’s leadership capabilities and strengthen its equity offerings, the firm said. In this newly created role, Maldonado will be responsible for managing and further diversifying Eastspring’s equity strategies.
Based in Singapore, Maldonado will report to Boon Peng Ooi, head of Eastspring Portfolio Strategies. Subject to regulatory approval, he will commence the new role on Sept 6.
Maldonado left HSBC Global Asset Management in April after serving for 28 years, and was most recently the Asia Pacific chief investment officer and global chief investment officer for equities. Cecilia Chan has replaced Maldonado as Asia Pacific CIO since Feb 1.
BLACKROCK NAMES APAC HEAD OF ISHARES AND INDEX INVESTMENTS
BlackRock appointed Peter Loehnert as head of iShares and index investments for Asia-Pacific, effective Oct 1, it announced on Thursday.
Based in Hong Kong, Loehnert will be responsible for growing iShares Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) market share and ETF adoption among investors in the region, as well as institutional index mandates.
Loehnert is taking on the role from Susan Chan, who will focus more on her head of Asia role following Loehnert’s appointment, the firm told AsianInvestor.
Loehnert has been with BlackRock for over 10 years. He was most recently the head of international cash management based in London, driving the growth in global liquidity assets across multiple currencies. BlackRock has no direct replacement for the head of international cash management role at this moment, it told AsianInvestor.
STATE STREET ADDS COLLATERAL MANAGEMENT AND PORTFOLIO SOLUTIONS LEADS
State Street has appointed Sam Edwards as head of collateral management for Asia Pacific, effective August 16.
Hong Kong-based Edwards will report globally to Staffan Ahlner, global head of collateral management, and regionally to Michele Hardeman, head of global markets, Asia Pacific.
Edwards joins the firm from Credit Suisse, where he established secured financing in Asia Pacific and established equity financing capabilities in EMEA during his 12-year tenure. His most recent role was head of Asia Pacific central collateral desk. Prior to Credit Suisse, Edwards spent six years at Lehman Brothers on the equity & fixed income secured financing desk.
This is a newly created role to meet increasing demand for collateral management services from institutional investors in Asia Pacific. The responsibilities were previously shared by various teams in Asia Pacific, according to a spokesperson at the firm.
Credit Suisse declined to comment on his departure.
Separately, State Street has hired Elliot Graham as a managing director in the bank’s portfolio solutions team, heading the transition management business. Graham will officially join the State Street Global Markets team in November.
Graham will report to James Woodward, head of portfolio solutions Asia Pacific. Both are based in Sydney. Graham is taking over responsibilities from James Clark who left the firm a couple of months ago.
An industry professional with more than 20 years’ experience, Graham was most recently with Macquarie Securities and previously with NAB Asset Management, JP Morgan and Mercer Investment Consulting. Macquarie Securities did not respond to emailed questions on his replacement.
PGIM ADDS HEAD OF ASIA
PGIM Investments has hired Jessica Jones as managing director, head of Asia. In this newly created role, Jones will lead the expansion of PGIM’s global intermediary business into Asia, building teams in Hong Kong and Singapore to support the firm’s sales and distribution efforts in the region.
Jones will be based in Hong Kong and report to Kimberly LaPointe, head of PGIM Investments International.
PGIM Investments is the investment management business of Prudential Financial.
Jones joins from Goldman Sachs Asset Management where she served as managing director and head of the retail client business Asia ex-Japan.
Subject to regulatory approval, Jones will also serve as the responsible officer for PGIM Investments and will join the PGIM Hong Kong board.
Goldman Sachs Asset Management did not reply to emailed questions on her replacement.
HAITONG INTERNATIONAL LAUNCHED GLOBAL FAMILY OFFICE BUSINESS
Haitong International Securities Group (Haitong International) Private Wealth Management (PWM) on August 17 launched its Global Family Office (GFO) business and appointment of Roger Teow, a private banking veteran, as Asia head of GFO and Singapore head of PWM business. Teow reports to Austin Luo, head of private wealth management at Haitong International.
Haitong International's GFO business, under the purview of the PWM team, will serve as a hub connecting various businesses of the group including PWM, corporate finance, asset management and research etc.
Prior to joining Haitong International, Teow served as the ultra-high net worth relationship manager at Julius Baer, and executive director of investment products and services at UBS Wealth Management, in which he was the head of investment funds, hedge funds and private equities.
Julius Baer declined to comment on his departure. Haitong declined to provide its hiring plan nor team scale for the GFO.
EFG ADDS NORTH ASIA HEAD OF INVESTMENT SOLUTIONS
Effective August 16, Zurich-headquartered banking group EFG International has appointed Edmund Yun as new head of investment solutions, North Asia, to lead both the product advisory team and the investment counsellors in Hong Kong.
Yun brings over two decades of experience in the private wealth management industry. Prior to joining EFG, Yun held the positions of deputy head of markets, investment and structuring, as well as managing director, head of investment solutions, in Credit Agricole Indosuez Wealth Management in the Hong Kong branch.
Yun has worked for CIC Investor Services, Bank of Montreal Private Banking Asia, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce Private Wealth Management Asia, Banque Nationale de Paris Hong Kong Branch and BNP Private Banking Asia.
Credit Agricole Indosuez Wealth Management had hired Timothy Tsang as Yun’s replacement, effective July 23, according to the firm.
Based in Hong Kong, Tsang reports to Arjan de Boer, head of markets, investments & structuring, Asia. Timothy was managing director and head of investment advisory and products, solutions & client experience at Nomura Wealth Management.
JUPITER ASSET MANAGEMENT NAMES ASIA PACIFIC HEAD OF INSTITUTIONAL
Jupiter Asset Management appointed Adam Phua as head of institutional, Asia Pacific, effective July 5. This is a newly created role and head of Asia Pacific, Peter Swarbreck, oversaw the business previously, according to a spokeswoman.
Based in Hong Kong, Phua oversees the development and strengthening of Jupiter’s relationships with investment consultants and its prospective institutional clients across the Asia Pacific region. He reports to Peter Swarbreck, head of Asia Pacific.
Prior to joining Jupiter, he spent 21 years at Allianz Global Investors and its predecessor companies in Germany, Singapore and Hong Kong where his most recent role was managing director and head of international institutional sales in Asia. Allianz GI did not reply to emailed questions on Phua’s replacement.
NEW FORESTS APPOINTS HEAD OF SUSTAINABILITY
New Forests, a global forestry investment manager, appoints FTSE Russell’s former head of sustainable investment Jo Saleeba as head of sustainability, the firm said on Tuesday.
Saleeba has joined since July and is based in Melbourne. She reports to Radha Kuppalli, managing director for impact and advocacy.
In this newly created role, Saleeba will engage investors in scaling impact through the deployment of capital to sustainable forestry and landscape management.
MaryKate Bullen previously headed sustainability and communications affairs until her departure in April, the firm told AsianInvestor.
Saleeba also serves as FTSE Russell’s senior advisor for sustainable investment. She joined FTSE Russell in April as head of sustainable investment for Australia and New Zealand. Prior to that, she headed responsible investment at Australian superannuation fund Hesta for eight years.
New Forests is a global forestry investment manager with A6 billion ($4.3 billion) in assets under management across 1 million hectares (2.4 million acres) of investments.