Weekly roundup of people news, Feb 17
BLACKROCK APPOINTS HEAD OF TAIWAN
BlackRock appointed former head of China distribution Tiffany Hsieh as head of Taiwan, effective February.
Hsieh will be responsible for leading BlackRock’s business in Taiwan.
She will report to Susan Chan, deputy head of Asia Pacific and head of Greater China.
Hsieh will relocate to Taipei from Hong Kong in the summer, a spokesperson told AsianInvestor.
She replaces Amy Yen, who left BlackRock in October 2022 for personal reasons, AsianInvestor learnt.
Hsieh has nearly 14 years of experience with BlackRock across Asia, starting in 2009 as head of iShares for Taiwan and helped the establishment of BlackRock’s China business in 2012.
She was most recently responsible for BlackRock’s cross-border and onshore distribution business in China, based in Hong Kong.
With Hsieh’s transition to a new role, the China offshore wealth business is led by Steve Zhu, the spokesperson said.
Zhu is based in Hong Kong and was formerly vice president at BlackRock, responsible for cross-border and China client business.
CAPITAL GROUP HIRES EQUITY CLIENT GROUP LEAD
Capital Group named Katharine Dryer as equity lead for the Europe and Asia client group.
In this newly created role, Dryer will focus on expanding the firm’s equity distribution strategy and product development roadmap for institutional and intermediary clients across Europe and Asia.
Based in London, she will report to Alexandra Haggard, head of asset class services, Europe and Asia client group.
She was most recently deputy chief investment officer at Jupiter Asset Management where she held several key roles for nearly 10 years.
Her past experience also includes various senior positions at BlackRock, Morgan Stanley Investment Management and Deutsche Asset Management.
In addition, Scott Steele was recently appointed fixed income lead for the Europe and Asia client group.
These newly created roles are part of the firm’s efforts to increase its footprint in Europe and Asia.
JUPITER ASSET MANAGEMENT REJIGS ASIA TEAM
Jupiter Asset Management promoted former head of South East Asia Madeline Han to head of Asia.
Based in Singapore, Han reports to head of international, Mathias Mueller.
Han will continue to oversee the firm’s South East Asia business - her previous role – in the new role, a spokesperson told AsianInvestor.
She replaces Peter Swarbreck, who was the previous head of Asia Pacific until February, the firm told AsianInvestor.
Swarbreck joined the firm in early 2013 and was instrumental in building out and growing the Asia business over the last nine years.
He is based in Hong Kong and taking a career break, according to his LinkedIn profile.
Before joining Jupiter in 2015, Han was with Franklin Templeton Investments, where she managed client relationships across Southeast Asia.
She also worked at the Monetary Authority of Singapore previously.
Han leads a team comprising newly promoted Karen Cheng as head of sales, North Asia in Hong Kong, and Zach Yeo as head of sales, South East Asia in Singapore.
Cheng and Yeo’s roles are newly created, the spokesperson said.
Cheng joined Jupiter as sales director, North Asia in 2019 from T. Rowe Price.
Yeo joined Jupiter as sales director, Singapore in 2016 from Citibank.
The three new roles were effective as of February 9.
NIKKO AM CREATES GLOBAL SUSTAINABLE INVESTMENT TEAM
Nikko Asset Management has appointed Natalia Rajewska as global head of sustainable investment.
She will spearhead a newly created sustainable investment team.
She is based in Singapore and reports to Stefanie Drews, group president, and Hiroshi Yoh, chief investment officer.
After Rajewska assumed the newly created role in August 2022, the asset manager recently decided to create a global sustainable investment team that brings Nikko AM’s ESG professionals under one umbrella and across asset classes and offices in Tokyo, London and Singapore.
Rajewska joined Nikko AM in 2021 as global sustainable investment specialist, a spokesperson told AsianInvestor.
She was formerly sustainable finance vice president at ING Singapore and ESG analyst at Aviva Investors in London.
HAMILTON LANE OPENS OFFICE IN SHANGHAI
Private markets specialist Hamilton Lane has opened an office in Shanghai, making it the company's sixth office in the region.
The other offices are in Hong Kong, Seoul, Singapore, Sydney and Tokyo.
Hamilton Lane Managing Director and Co-Head of Asia Investments, Xia Mingchen, will lead the Shanghai team of seven professionals across investment, client solutions, compliance and risk management teams.
Xia will split time between Shanghai and Hong Kong, a spokesperson for Hamilton Lane told AsianInvestor.
In addition to Xia, rounding out the leadership team in Hong Kong is Juan Delgado-Moreira, vice chairman and head of Asia; Collwyn Tan, co-head of Asia investments; and Shannon Chow, principal, the spokesperson said.
Hamilton Lane was awarded Shanghai Qualified Foreign Limited Partner (QFLP) pilot status in May 2022. QFLP is a structure that allows foreign investors to convert US dollars into Chinese renminbi and make investments in renminbi private markets.
Hamilton Lane is one of the largest private markets investment firms globally, with about $832 billion in assets under management and supervision.
CSC HIRES SENIOR OPERATIONAL RISK MANAGER
The Commonwealth Superannuation Corporation (CSC) has hired Phil Brown as senior manager of operational risk. He will be based in Canberra in his new position.
Brown has worked for CSC on a contract basis for the 18 months prior to his full-time hiring.
“After a couple of contract roles the opportunity to become a full time member of the team is greatly appreciated," he said in a post on February 13.
Brown was previously an executive manager at MTAA Super for almost 16 years. He reported directly to the chief executive and was responsible for all aspects of the fund’s investment function.
He departed MTAA after the industry super fund merged with Tasplan to become Spirit Super in April 2021. Following the merger, Ross Barry was named chief investment officer of the new entity.