Weekly roundup of people news, Feb 10
HKEX NAMES STRUCTURED PRODUCTS, PLATFORM BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT HEAD
Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEX) appointed Matthew Cheong as managing director, head of structured products and platform business development.
In this new role, Cheong will work closely with the HKEX sales and marketing teams to support market outreach and engagement as well help the development and implementation of product platforms.
Based in Hong Kong, he reports to HKEX co-chief operating officer and head of equities Wilfred Yiu.
Cheong joins HKEX from Goldman Sachs, where for the past five years he was managing director, global markets (equities). Before that, he held various senior roles at JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley, focused on developing trading systems and technology.
VANGUARD SUPER HEAD STEPS DOWN
Head of Vanguard Super Michael Lovett will step down from the fund at the end of February, just three months after its launch.
Vanguard Australia in a statement on February 7 said that Lovett would “take some time out before moving on to the next chapter in his career”. The statement gave no further explanation for his departure, but praised Lovett for his work towards launching of the firm’s superannuation business.
Shannon Nutter, head of proposition and experience in Vanguard’s super business, has been appointed acting head of super while plans for the succession of Lovett's role are finalised.
FWD NAMES NEW SINGAPORE CEO
FWD Group Holdings has appointed Adrian Vincent as chief executive officer of FWD Singapore, subject to regulatory approval.
Vincent joined FWD Singapore in 2019 as general manager, life business. He has over 20 years of experience, including that of being deputy CEO at a a multi-national insurance company based in Singapore. He reports to Binayak Dutta, managing director, emerging markets, and group chief distribution officer.
He succeeds Khor Kee Eng, who will take on a new role FWD Group headquarters.
FWD did not say at the time of publication when Vincent steps into the new role or who replaces him in his previous role.
AUSTRALIAN UNITY NAMES EXECUTIVE GM
Australian Unity has named Michael McGavigan as its new executive general manager of operations for its wealth and capital markets platform. He joined the fund on February 6.
He is also responsible for the platform's information technology, project management, and operational compliance functions, Australian Unity said in a statement.
McGavigan was most recently the global head of investment management solution delivery at Vanguard. Prior to that he held other senior positions at NAB and Perpetual Limited.
Vanguard did not respond to AsianInvestor’s request for comment on McGavigan’s replacement at the time of publication.
GAM INVESTMENTS ADDS ASIAN EQUITIES ANALYST
GAM Investments named Zeng Fanwei as investment analyst for its Asian equities team, based in Hong Kong.
The team is led by investment director Jian Shi Cortesi, who manages GAM’s Asian and China equity strategies.
The Asian equities team works in close collaboration with Swetha Ramachandran, investment director for GAM’s luxury brands strategy and is supported by Wendy Chen, senior analyst as part of the wider collaboration with the global equities team.
Prior to joining GAM, Zeng worked for investment manager Aplus Partners in Hong Kong where she was a member of the investment committee.
Before that, she was an investment banking analyst at Chinese property developer Kaisa Group in Shenzhen.
Milliman appointed Richard Payne as director and consulting actuary for life practice in Asia, effective February 13.
With developments such as new risk-based capital regimes and IFRS 17 reporting impacting the industry, the appointment is to strengthen the risk management and regulatory consulting support to its clients in Asia.
He will be based in Hong Kong and report to Michael Daly, principal and consulting actuary.
Payne has 26 years of international actuarial experience. His most recent role was senior manager with the Hong Kong Insurance Authority for over five years. Before that, he held various leadership roles with Prudential in Hong Kong and the UK.
CBRE IM NAMES APAC LOGISTICS HEAD, ADDS INFRA SPECIALIST
CBRE Investment Management has appointed Daniel McDonald as managing director and head of the Asia Pacific logistics operator division, effective January 19.
In this newly created role, McDonald will manage all aspects of CBRE IM’s logistics and data center operations in the APAC region, including acquisitions, asset and development management, and leasing.
McDonald is based in Singapore and will report to Adrian Baker, president of the Asia Pacific real estate division at CBRE IM, who also oversaw the logistics function before McDonald joined, a spokesperson told AsianInvestor.
With over 20 years’ experience in real estate, McDonald joins the firm from J.P. Morgan, where he was most recently head of Australia and New Zealand fund management within Asia Pacific real estate.
A JP Morgan spokesperson declined to comment on AsianInvestor’s inquiries about when McDonald’s left or if a replacement was named.
McDonald has previously worked at Goodman, Cushman & Wakefield and CBRE in various locations across Asia Pacific.
The company also appointed Nicholas Riordan as senior director within the client solutions team to drive capital-raising efforts for infrastructure investment programs among clients in Asia Pacific.
Riordan is based in Singapore and will work with CBRE IM’s other client solutions officers and the firm’s investment teams, effective November.
Riordan reports to Mark Jun, Asia Pacific head of client solutions officers. the role was newly created due to increasing investor interest in infrastructure, a spokesperson told AsianInvestor.
Riordan joined from Surbana Jurong Capital, the investment arm of Surbana Jurong Group, where was director of investments according to his LinkedIn.
Surbana Jurong did not respond to AsianInvestor’s inquiries about Riordan’s role.
Riordan has also previously worked at Hastings Funds Management, a specialist infrastructure fund firm in Melbourne, Australia.
MORRISON FOERSTER ADDS REAL ESTATE PARTNER IN SINGAPORE
Tabitha Saw has joined law firm Morrison Foerster as a partner in its transactions department and global private equity real estate group, based in Singapore.
Saw represents investment managers, institutional investors, and owner operators in complex, high-value real estate and data center transactions.
Saw joins from law firm White & Case where she was also a partner. She left at the start of the month, a spokesperson told AsianInvestor.
Some of Saw’s representative transactions include advising FLOW Digital Infrastructure on the establishment of its joint venture platform with AyalaLand Logistics Holdings Corp. to develop carrier-neutral data centers across the Philippines and ESR, a leading global asset manager in industrial real estate, on the development of a $2.15 billion multi-phase data center campus in Osaka City.