Weekly roundup of people news, Feb 23
FWD APPOINTS SOUTHEAST ASIA CHAIRMAN
Hong Kong-headquartered FWD Group has appointed Arthur Lee as executive vice president of new markets and corporate governance, and chairman for Southeast Asia from February.
In the newly created role, Lee, who is based in Singapore, will oversee the life insurer’s expansion in the region, as well as leading corporate governance across the group, including risk, compliance, audit, and legal functions, a media statement said.
He reports to Huynh Thanh Phong, FWD group chief executive.
Lee’s duties were previously carried out by various members of the senior management team and have been consolidated and handed over to Lee, a spokeswoman for FWD told AsianInvestor.
Lee was previously chief executive at Tokio Marine Asia, where he was the chief executive and member of the Board, as well as executive officer of Tokio Marine Holdings. He stepped down from those roles in September 2017. Makoto Okada has since been appointed as chief executive for Tokio Marine Asia.
SINGAPORE’S TEMASEK HIRES DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY MD
Mark Lim Choon Lye was appointed managing director for digital technology at Temasek Holdings in January, a spokesman for the Singaporean sovereign wealth fund confirmed to AsianInvestor.
In this new role, Singapore-based Lim reports to Jonathon Allaway, chief technology officer, the spokesman said, adding that the role includes building new digital capabilities and infrastructure for Temasek, with the help of different technologies and data to drive efficiency.
Lim was previously director for digital services at Government Technology Agency of Singapore (GovTech), where he was one of the leaders of the smart nation initiatives.
GovTech did not respond to an AsianInvestor query on whether a replacement had been named for Lim.
BRYCE WAN LEAVES GOLDMAN SACHS AFTER 18 YEARS
The former Asia head of portfolio management at Goldman Sachs Private Wealth Management has moved on after 18 years with the firm.
Bryce Wan’s regulatory licence with the bank ended on January 31, and he said he would start a new role with another firm in the coming months. AsianInvestor could not ascertain where he was heading.
His most recent position at Goldman was as a managing director and private wealth adviser in Hong Kong.
Jacky Tang had taken over from Wan as Asia head of PM in late 2016. Tang had joined Goldman in the investment strategy group in 2012.
A Goldman spokeswoman confirmed Wan had left but declined to comment further.
Wan has also worked for consultancy Bain & Company and Hong Kong conglomerate Jardine Matheson, according to his LinkedIn page.
FIDELITY NAMES GLOBAL CIO FOR EQUITIES
Fidelity International has appointed Romain Boscher as global CIO for equities.
Boscher (pictured) will assume the new role and become a member of the investment manager’s global operating committee on April 30. He will report to Bart Grenier, global head of asset management. Both of them are based in London.
He replaces Dominic Rossi, who since January has served instead as a special adviser on public policy initiatives at the firm. A company spokeswoman said Rossi's move to the new part-time role was a personal decision intended to give him more flexibility.
Boscher was previously co-head of equities at Amundi Asset Management, who said Diego Franzin and Alexandre Drabowicz had been appointed the sole head of equities and deputy head of equities, respectively, following Boscher’s departure.
JUPITER AM APPOINTS HEAD OF STRATEGY FOR MULTI-ASSET
Jupiter Asset Management has appointed Talib Sheikh as head of strategy for multi-asset.
He will officially join the business in June and report directly to chief investment officer Stephen Pearson. Both are based in London.
Sheikh’s appointment is part of a strategic plan to build out the multi-asset business, according to a company spokeswoman.
Miles Geldard previously held the title of head of strategy for multi-asset and moved to become a senior adviser to Jupiter last year. The spokeswoman said Sheikh would not be a like-for-like replacement for Geldard, as he would focus more on building out the business. She did not elaborate further.
Sheikh was previously portfolio manager for multi-asset solutions at JP Morgan Asset Management, a position he left on February 13. Other portfolio managers have already assumed the responsibilities to manage the portfolios on which Sheikh was named, according to a spokeswoman for JP Morgan.
DEUTSCHE BANK WM APPOINTS SOUTHEAST ASIA CLIENT COVERAGE HEAD
Deutsche Bank Wealth Management has appointed Ingrid Widjaja as its new group head dedicated to client coverage in Southeast Asia.
Widjaja, who joined on February 19, will lead a team of six including team head David Ng, relationship managers Katherine Lok and Florence Tee, and investment adviser Lee Chin Kit, all of whom joined in the past month from HSBC.
Based in Singapore, Widjaja reports to Kwong Kin-Mun, head of WM coverage for Southeast Asia.
Widjaja was previously at HSBC Private Banking in Singapore and her last position was market head – Indonesia and managing director. She has also worked at Merrill Lynch Singapore, Banque Indosuez Indonesia and American Express Bank Indonesia and the US.
This is Deutsche's third team hire dedicated to covering clients in the Southeast Asian market. The bank hired six Singapore-based relationship managers led by Jonathan Ng and Gregory Goh in December 2017.
The first team of four, led by group head Jonathan Ng, joined Deutsche Bank WM from BNP Paribas Wealth Management Singapore. The second team of two, led by Gregory Goh, joined Deutsche Bank WM from Nomura Singapore.
HSBC Private Bank did not respond to AsianInvestor queries on the departures.
ARDIAN NAMES HEAD OF NEW JAPAN OFFICE
Private investment house Ardian has hired Kanji Takenaka to lead its newly-open office in Tokyo.
Takenaka is now the head of Japan and managing director at Ardian, according to a press release issued by the the Paris-headquartered firm. It did not get back to AsianInvestor's query about the new appointment.
Previously, Takenaka worked at HarbourVest Partners, where he held the position of principal. HarbourVest did not reply to AsianInvestor’s query about his departure.
ALTER DOMUS APPOINTS APAC HEAD
Alter Domus, a corporate services provider for alternative investment managers, appointed Alexander Traub as its regional executive for Asia Pacific in January.
Based in Singapore, Traub is responsible for managing the firm’s relationships in the Asia-Pacific region, as well as developing the business. He will report to Laurent Vanderweyen, group CEO at Alter Domus.
The company declined to comment on who was leading Alter Domus’s Asia operations before Traub’s appointment.
Traub was previously Asia-Pacific managing director for Augentius, a private equity and real estate fund administrator. An Augentius spokesperson said a replacement had been selected and was likely to be announced over the next few weeks. He declined to provide a name.
CME GROUP HIRES HEAD OF SALES FOR ASIA
CME Group has hired Tim Smith from Deutsche Securities Asia to be its Hong Kong-based head of sales for Asia.
Smith started the new role at the derivatives marketplace on February 12, effectively replacing Patrick Chan, who left CME Group in April 2017. Smith reports to David Hartney, Chicago-based global head of client development and sales.
In his previous role at Deutsche Securities Asia, Smith was head of listed derivatives for Hong Kong. Deutsche declined to comment on his departure.
ALPHA FMC HIRES ASIA EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Alpha Financial Markets Consulting, an asset and wealth management consultant, expanded its team in Asia with the hire of Michael Chaille as executive director in January.
The role was created in response to growing demand from Alpha FMC’s clients for consulting services in the region, a media statement said. In this new job, Chaille reports to Alpha FMC's global chief executive officer, Euan Fraser.
Alpha did not provide details of the size of the Asia team.
The consultant now has a presence in 10 financial centres globally, including established offices in the UK, the US and key European locations in countries such as France, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Luxembourg.
Singapore is Alpha FMC’s first office in Asia, but the company has stated its plans to expand its presence across the region over the next few years.
Chaille, who is based in Singapore, previously had his own consulting boutique, Newtone Associates, which was sold to Chappuis Halder and Co, in 2013. He continued to work with the new owners until his move to Alpha FMC.
Chappius Halder did not reply to AsianInvestor queries on whether a replacement for Chaille had been appointed.
Other people news reported by AsianInvestor in the last two weeks:
MetLife IM wins Hong Kong licence, sets up team