Weekly roundup of people news, Aug 9
BlackRock appoints Hardy as Singapore head
BlackRock has named Kevin Hardy as country head for Singapore, a post he will assume in addition to his current role as Asia-Pacific head of beta strategies.
He will relocate to Singapore and oversee BlackRock’s Southeast Asia business interests. Sources indicate that more appointments are in the pipeline in the Lion City.
Alasdair Riach was previously Singapore head and will retain his position as head of the institutional client business for Singapore and Southeast Asia. He has been with BlackRock in Singapore since 2004, having joined the firm in 2000.
Hardy has been instrumental in the launch of a new Hong Kong-domiciled funds platform, and he will continue to oversee this part of the business from Singapore.
Sources say Hardy has built up a strong track record since he joined a year ago, which has led to his promotion.
Prior to BlackRock, he was Asia-Pacific head of global investments and country head for Hong Kong at Northern Trust.
UBS names ex-SGX president as Asia vice chairman
Gan Seow Ann has joined UBS Wealth Management as vice chairman for Asia Pacific, which the Swiss bank says is a newly created role.
He remains in Singapore and will join UBS in mid-August, reporting to Edmund Koh, Singapore country head and CEO of wealth management for Southeast Asia and Asia-Pacific hub.
Gan was most recently co-president of Singapore Exchange (SGX), where he spent 11 years. He resigned in March and has since been replaced by Muthukrishnan Ramaswami.
Before joining SGX, Gan was managing director at Merrill Lynch, responsible for the equities market in Southeast Asia.
Commenting on the hire, UBS cites Gan’s “strong relationships with entrepreneurs and business owners across the region” and the fact that he is “well recognised by regulatory boards across the region”.
Northern Trust hires risk services head
Asset management and services firm Northern Trust has named Andrew Tan as Asia-Pacific head of investment risk and analytical services.
Responsible for leading the delivery of technology, reporting and consulting services for institutional investors and asset managers in the region, Singapore-based Tan will lead teams across Hong Kong, Melbourne and Singapore. He began his new position in May.
Tan was most recently head of the risk and performance consulting practice at Royal Bank of Canada in Toronto. Before that, he was head of client services in Toronto Dominion Bank’s corporate and institutional services division.
Tan replaces Madhu Gayer, who left in October; his responsibilities had been passed to Chicago in the interim. Gayer has been at BNP Paribas Securities Services since November as Asia-Pacific head of investment reporting and performance, according to LinkedIn.
Tan reports to Chicago-based Paul d’Ouville, global head of product management for corporate and institutional services, and Teresa Parker, head of Asia-Pacific based in Singapore.
Sun Life creates new markets role for Steel
Roger Steel has been promoted to president of new markets and business development at Sun Life Financial Asia, from chief executive of Hong Kong.
He remains in Hong Kong, but will now focus on expanding the Canadian insurer’s footprint in Asean markets, including the partnership operation in Malaysia and joint-venture in Indonesia. He began his newly created role in April.
“The role was created to help ensure we have strong focus on the new markets we’ve just entered and that we can create synergy with our partners in the region, like [Malaysian bank] CIMB,” says a spokeswoman.
Steel had been Hong Kong CEO for nearly six years, and Wim Hekstra is due to succeed him, pending regulatory approval from Hong Kong’s Office of the Commissioner of Insurance.
Hekstra was most recently Asia-Pacific head of strategy and business development and head of China at Dutch financial services group ING.
Swift hires new Asia-Pacific director
Financial messaging provider Swift has named Eddie Haddad as Asia-Pacific director, succeeding Patrick de Courcy, who is now deputy chief executive for Asia Pacific.
Haddad joins from data and technology provider Thomson Reuters, where he was Asia head of sales. He reports to Alain Raes, chief executive for Asia Pacific and Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
Swift has Asian presences in Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore and Tokyo.
The company enables asset managers to carry out activities such as payments, treasury, settlement, reporting, collateral management and financing through a standardised communication platform.
Other moves reported on AsianInvestor.net this week:
SSgA points to further sovereign diversification
MAS reshuffles senior management
Lombard Odier hires first Asia COO, CRO
Robeco to bolster sales team post-Orix acquisition