Weekly roundup of people news, Aug 24
BARINGS APPOINTS APAC HEAD
Barings has appointed Duncan Robertson, global head of distribution and marketing, as head of Asia Pacific, effective August 21.
In the newly created role, he will lead Barings’ overall business operations and growth strategy in the Asia-Pacific region while continuing to oversee the firm’s global distribution and marketing strategy, Barings said.
Robertson will relocate to the firm’s Sydney office from Charlotte, North Carolina.
Meanwhile, Gerry Ng continues to be chief executive officer of Asia Pacific ex-Japan for Barings. He will report to Robertson, a spokeswoman told AsianInvestor.
In addition, Shelley Liu joined the firm as country head of China, also on August 21, to oversee the asset manager’s growth efforts in the country. Based in Shanghai, she will report to Robertson.
She joins from Vanguard Investments Hong Kong, where she was chief representative of the Beijing office and head of government relations in China.
In a media statement, Barings also announced it had received approval to establish an investment management wholly foreign-owned enterprise (WFOE) in Shanghai.
Vanguard declined to comment on Liu’s departure or whether a replacement had been named.
STATE STREET NAMES ASIA INSURANCE SERVICES HEAD
State Street created a dedicated role to oversee its insurance services business in Asia and hired Kamal Jandu from Citi to fill it, effective August 1.
Based in Hong Kong, he will oversee a team supporting insurers on data management, custody, fund administration, accounting, trading and research.
Jandu is responsible for defining and executing State Street’s regional insurance services strategy and coordinating across business units, the US asset services giant said in a statement. He reports to Ivan Matviak, global head of insurance solutions based in Boston, and Ian Martin, Asia-Pacific head of global services and global exchange, based in Hong Kong.
Previously the Asia Pacific insurance services business was looked after by the global team in the US and Europe, as well as by the global services team in Asia Pacific, according to the company. State Street had $33.9 trillion in assets under custody and administration and $2.72 trillion in assets under management as of June 30.
At Citibank, Jandu was senior client manager for the insurance sector based in Hong Kong. He left the banki in May 2018 after almost 30 years, a State Street spokeswoman said.
His latest appointment reflects a trend for institutional service providers, including asset managers, to strengthen coverage of Asia’s fast-growing insurance segment. Fund houses BlackRock and HSBC Global Asset Management both added senior staff to their teams in this area this year.
PGI LOSES NORTH ASIA CLIENT SERVICES HEAD, ADDS TO DISTRIBUTION TEAM
Winnie Ho, head of client services for North Asia at Principal Global Investors, left the firm last week, a company spokeswoman confirmed to AsianInvestor.
A replacement for Ho is set to join in early September, the spokeswoman added, but she declined to provide any further details.
According to her LinkedIn page, Ho joined PGI in May 2015 and previously worked for Invesco and Schroders.
In a separate development, Ricky Cheung joined PGI from Credit Suisse in June as senior manager for funds distribution. Credit Suisse did not respond to queries on what Cheung’s role was, his replacement or when he left.
DWS APPOINTS APAC ALTERNATIVES CFO, CHINA COO
German fund house DWS has appointed Clarence Ng as chief financial officer (CFO) for Asia-Pacific alternatives, as well as chief operating officer (COO) for DWS China.
The roles are newly created, and Shanghai-based Ng is responsible for managing and executing all financial and governance aspects of the alternatives business across Asia-Pacific, as well as overseeing operations of DWS’s China office.
He started on August 1, and reports for both roles to Leon Williams, chief COO of alternatives in Asia-Pacific, said a DWS spokesman.
The CFO role is newly created due to growth in the regional alternatives business, the spokesman added.
DWS did not respond to AsianInvestor queries on who covered the Asia-Pacific alternatives CFO and China COO responsibilities prior to Ng's appointment.
He was most recently global markets finance director at Deutsche Bank in China. Ng left the bank on July 31, a Deutsche Bank spokesman said.
Deutsche Bank did not respond to a query on whether a replacement has been named yet.
HSBC PB PLANS APAC TEAM EXPANSION
UK wealth manager HSBC Private Banking aims to recruit up to 120 additional employees in Asia-Pacific by the end of 2018, it said in a press release.
The wealth manager is looking to add about 70 employees in Hong Kong, 40 in Singapore, and the rest in China, Taiwan, and Australia.
It is prioritising client-facing and investment-focused roles, such as relationship managers, investment counsellors, product specialists, credit advisers, and wealth planners.
HSBC PB has added a number of senior executives in Asia-Pacific since the beginning of 2018. In the first six months of the year, it appointed Hong Kong-based Alan Beattie as global head of private wealth solutions, Tan How Seng as Indonesia desk head, Sundar Ramani as international and non-resident Indian market head, Edward Moon as Asia head of alternatives, Benedikt Maissen as market head for Indonesia, and Ken Tsang as Asia head of the global solutions group, and Rachel Wei as co-market head of Hong Kong.
It also is planning to hire 120 additional employees in Europe, the Middle East, and the US by early 2019.
WIDER ROLE FOR DEUTSCHE BANK WM ASIA CHIEF
Deutsche Bank’s Hong Kong-based head of wealth management for Asia Pacific has been given responsibility for two additional markets.
For now, Lok Yim’s official title remains head of wealth management for Asia Pacific. But his remit was expanded to include also Middle East and Africa starting August 16. He continues to report to Fabrizio Campelli, London-based global head of wealth management, a company spokeswoman said.
The new appointment enables the company to better serve clients such as Indian non-residents and ultra-high-net-worth individuals across the region from Dubai to Singapore and beyond, she said.
Lok took on the additional role of and chief country officer for Hong Kong in March.
Other people news reported by AsianInvestor last week: