Weekly roundup of people news, Dec 18
HSBC GLOBAL AM NAMES NEW APAC CIO
HSBC Global Asset Management has promoted Cecilia Chan to chief investment officer for Asia Pacific, from her previous role chief executive of fixed income for the region.
She will take up the role on February 1, when Bill Maldonado, CIO for Asia Pacific and for global equities since July 2011, leaves the firm to return to the UK and pursue other opportunities.
Chan's replacement as Asia Pacific fixed income head will be announced in due course while Maldonado's equity responsibilities will be shared among regional heads of equities, a spokeswoman told AsianInvestor.
Maldonado will remain with HSBC Global AM in Hong Kong until the end of March to ensure an orderly handover of responsibilities, the spokeswoman said. She declined to say when his last day would be with the firm, which he joined in 1993.
Chan has been with HSBC Global AM since 1994.
FUTURE SUPER SEES CIO STEP DOWN, APPOINTS RISK CHIEF
Future Super, the super fund that claims to focus on the climate, has seen a shake-up in its risk and investment committees.
Chief investment officer Dan East will be stepping down, while Virginia Malley, formerly of Macquarie Funds Management, will become chair of the fund's risk committee.
Future Super, which manages about $500 million in assets, said in a statement that East would step down "to take on an increased role in the governance" of Future Super. East will hold positions on both the risk and investment committee.
Malley was most recently chief risk officer at Macquarie Funds Management, where she worked for some 20 years. The fund declined to say when her new role would become effective, when she left her previous role to join or who was the previous chair of the risk committee.
Ruth McClelland will also be joining Future Super from IFM Investors as company secretary and general counsel in January 2021.
The super fund has also appointed Karen McLeod from the Responsible Investment Association of Australia and Geraldine Barlow-Bolt from Australian Unity as independent members of the investment committee.
FWD REPLACES JAPAN CEO
FWD Fuji Life Insurance (FWD Japan) has appointed Hideki Yamagishi as representative director, president and chief executive, effective January 12.
Norio Tomono will step down as CEO and become FWD's country manager for Japan while still acting as representative director. The country manager role is a newly created one, a company spokeswoman said.
Yamagishi joins FWD from NFC Holdings, a Tokyo-based insurance brokerage, where he was most recently CEO for Japan. He will now report to Huynh Thanh Phong, FWD Group CEO.
ONTARIO TEACHERS NAMES TWO APPOINTMENTS
Canada’s Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan (OTPP) has promoted Ben Chan to senior managing director from managing director for Asia Pacific.
Hong Kong-based Chan oversaw the opening of the retirement fund’s new Singapore office in late September.
OTPP has also hired Nick Jansa from Deutsche Bank as London-based senior managing director for Europe, the Middle East and Africa (Emea).
He was formerly co-head of corporate finance for Emea and global co-head of leveraged debt capital markets at Deutsche and now reports to OTPP chief investment officer Ziad Hindo.
ZURICH NAMES GROUP INSURANCE HEAD FOR AUSTRALIA
Darren Wickham has joined Zurich Life & Investments as head of group insurance from Australian insurer TAL. He will remain in Sydney and focus on Zurich’s portfolio of superannuation fund and corporate group insurance partners in Australia.
Wickham will start in his new post in March to replace Gerard Kerr, who left Zurich at the end of November, a spokeswoman told AsianInvestor. Wickham will report to chief executive Justin Delaney.
At TAL, Wickham was executive general manager of the group life business and had been with the company for nine years. He was previously an actuary and specialist in superannuation and retirement income and benefits. TAL did not respond to requests for comment.
New Australian insurer Integrity Life has appointed Sean McCormack as chief executive. He will relocate to Sydney for the role and start on March 22.
McCormack will replace Chris Powell, who retired earlier this year but continues to serve on Integrity's board, a spokesman told AsianInvestor. Chief financial officer Lesley Mamelok has been acting as interim CEO in the meantime.
McCormack is currently chief of life insurance at MLC Life in Melbourne, and his last day will be February 26 after 11 years with the firm. MLC has not yet appointed a successor, it said in a statement.
VONTOBEL AM NAMES HEAD FOR NEW JAPAN OFFICE
Vontobel Asset Management has set up a new office in Tokyo and appointed Goji Yoshino to run it.
He joined Vontobel on September 23 and reports to Ulrich Behm, Singapore-based chief executive for Asia Pacific.
Yoshino is responsible for managing relationships with financial institutions and consultants and developing new distribution partnerships in Japan.
The new office obtained its regulatory licence at the end of October and now houses three professionals, including Yoshino, with more hires planned, a spokeswoman said.
Yoshino joined Vontobel from BlueBay Asset Management, where he was head of institutional sales. Bluebay declined to comment on how it would fill the vacant position.
EASTSPRING HIRES COO FROM SCHRODERS
Eastspring Investments, the fund management arm of insurer Prudential Corporation Asia, has hired Lilian Tham as chief operating officer (COO) from UK fund house Schroders.
She will take up the Singapore-based role on January 4, replacing Jeroen Buwalda and reporting to chief executive Seck Wai-Kwong.
Buwalda is moving to PCA as chief of global business services. The role is newly created and will focus on functional and support operations in the business, according to an Eastspring statement.
Steve Bryant, Schroders' chief administrative officer for Asia Pacific, will take on Tham’s responsibilities in addition to his current role. The firm declined to comment on whether this change would be permanent.
HSBC NAMES SINGAPORE HEAD OF SECURITIES SERVICES
HSBC has appointed Noor Adhami as head of securities services for Singapore, effective February 1.
She will replace Tony Lewis, who is on sabbatical and will take up a new role at the bank when he returns, a company spokeswoman said.
In her new role, Adhami will report to Brian Godins, head of securities services for Asia Pacific, and Gavin Powell, head of markets and securities services for Singapore.
Adhami is currently United Arab Emirates-based head of global liquidity and cash management for the Middle East, North Africa and Turkey. She will relocate to Singapore for the new role, the spokeswoman said.
A permanent replacement for her current role will be announced in due course, the spokeswoman added.
PIMCO'S FORMER ASIA CLIENT HEAD RESURFACES AT ICG
Intermediate Capital Group (ICG) has appointed Michael Thompson as global head of financial institutions coverage and Europe head of marketing and client relations, effective January 2021.
His role is newly created, said the London-based alternative investment manager in a release. He takes on responsibilities previously under the remit of Andreas Mondovits, global head of marketing and client relations at ICG, to whom Thompson will report.
Thompson was until July the head of Asia ex-Japan client management at Pimco, after which he returned to the UK with his family. He had worked for nearly 15 years at the US bond fund manager, which has not directly replaced him.
ICG has offices in Hong Kong, Singapore, Sydney and Tokyo, has 17 investment professionals in Asia and has been investing in the region for nearly 20 years, said a spokeswoman. The firm managed €46.1 billion ($55.8 billion) of assets globally in private debt, credit and equity as of September 30.
RBC CREATES NEW GREATER CHINA ROLE
RBC Wealth Management, part of Royal Bank of Canada, has hired Ida Lew from Credit Suisse as head of strategic initiatives for Greater China as of November 24.
She is based in Hong Kong and reports to Iggy Chong, Hong Kong-based head of private banking for Greater China, and Singapore-based Michael Reed, head of wealth management for Southeast Asia.
Lew's position has been newly created to support its growing client base in Greater China, a spokeswoman told AsianInvestor. She declined to comment on who had been looking after that segment before Lew’s appointment.
At Credit Suisse, Lew she held recruitment and market prospect management roles. Prior to that, she worked at UBS as a business manager covering wealthy clients in China and Japan.
NN IP NAMES NEW CSO
NN Investment Partners has promoted Adrie Heinsbroek to chief sustainability officer from principal for responsible investment, to be effective from January 1.
In his newly created role, Heinsbroek will continue to report to Arnoud Diemers, head of innovation and responsible investing and will take on a direct advisory role to Satish Bapat, NNIP’s chief executive.
Heinsbroek joined the Dutch fund house in February 2017 as principal for responsible investment. The firm did not respond to a query about whether he had been replaced in that role. Prior to that, he was head of sustainability at ING Bank in Belgium.
This story has been updated to show that NNIP did not respond to a query about Heinsbroek's previous role.