Weekly roundup of people news, July 28

Shannon Chow joined Hamilton Lane, an alternative investment management firm, in Hong Kong as a principal for relationship management, according to her profile on LinkedIn.

Chow was previously vice president of sales at BMO Global Asset Management in Hong Kong. She left in early July and a replacement has not yet been announced by the fund manager.

Hamilton Lane confirmed Chow's appointment and said she is joining in a newly created role aimed at expanding the client services team to support its growth in the region. The firm did not supply Chow's official job title to AsianInvestor by press time.

VALUE PARTNERS HIRES PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR

Value Partners hired Cassandra Chan in April as director for product development in Hong Kong.

The fund house declined to comment if this is a new role or a replacement. It also declined to clarify who Chan reports to.

She was previously vice president of product development at JP Morgan Asset Management. Her responsibilties are being shared by her team and no direct replacement has been made, a company spokesperson said.

DBS GRABS NEW CIO FOR WEALTH MANAGEMENT 

DBS has announced that Hou Wey Fook will take over as chief investment officer (CIO) of its consumer banking and wealth management division from September 5.

Current CIO Lim Say Boon, who has been with DBS for seven years, will be leaving the bank to return to Australia for family reasons.

Hou was formerly with Bank of Singapore, arch rival of DBS in the wealth management space in the city state. His most recent role at Bank of Singapore was as head of managed investments, and before that he was CIO. At this role he has advocated clients maintaining some exposure to hedge funds, for the purposes of diversification.

At DBS, Hou will be responsible for investment strategies including global strategic and tactical asset allocations for the bank's wealth clients.

He will lead a team of investment strategists and communications specialists within the CIO office, establish and curate DBS’ recommended investment strategies, make and publish asset allocation calls as well as thematic trading ideas across asset classes of equities, bonds and currencies.

Hou will report to Tan Su Shan, DBS's group head of consumer banking and wealth management.

AVIVA INVESTORS ADDS TO REAL ESTATE TEAM

Aviva Investors, the asset management business of UK insurer Aviva, has named Thijs Hupkes in the newly created role of director of real estate client solutions for Asia Pacific and the Middle East.

Based in Singapore, Hupkes joined on May 22. He had previously worked for CBRE Global Investors since August 2008, according to his LinkedIn page.

He reports to both Bart Coenraads, global head of indirect real estate and Scott Callander, head of client solutions for Asia Pacific and the Middle East. Callander had been looking after all external client strategy prior to the creation of Hupkes' role.

Aviva Investors Global Real Estate manages $41 billion of Aviva Investors' total assets under management of $425 billion.

STANCHART NAMES PRODUCT HEAD FOR SEC SERVICES

Standard Chartered has appointed Ryan Cuthbertson in Singapore as head of product management, custody and clearing for securities services in the transaction banking division. 

Cuthbertson was previously head of product for direct custody and clearing at HSBC Securities Services. In his new role, he reports to Margaret Harwood-Jones, global head of securities services.

The shift is part of a broader strategic realignment within Standard Chartered. Since the start of this year, Colin Brooks, vice chairman of securities services, has been overseeing the product function, implementing changes to the product structure. This has included creating two separate product head roles, one for custody and clearing and one for fiduciary and funds services.

Upon completion of the changes, the two product heads will report to Harwood-Jones, a bank spokesperson said. 

LOMBARD ODIER HANDS ROULIN NEW ROLE

Lombard Odier, a Swiss asset and wealth manager, has named Emmanuel Roulin as head of partnerships business within its private banking division.

The company said its decision to move Roulin to the new role was so he could oversee and expand on existing partnerships with local firms in the region and work on forging alliances to enter new markets.

Roulin was previously Lombard Odier's Asia-Pacific head of business development. A spokeswoman declined to comment on whether he had been replaced in that role or whose remit partnerships business had fallen previously.

Lombard Odier has onshore partnerships with financial institutions in markets including Australia, China, Japan, the Philippines, South Korea and Thailand.

NEUBERGER BERMAN BOOSTS CHINA EQUITIES TEAM 

Neuberger Berman has added five members to its China equity team.

Bin Yu joined as portfolio manager and head of the China equities team in May, bringing with him four research analysts. All of them come from CloudRidge Capital, an investment firm Yu founded in 2014.

The team, spread across Hong Kong and Beijing, will continue to manage their current strategy (which will be brought over from CloudRidge to Neuberger Berman) as a private fund, while expanding product offerings to Neuberger Berman clients. 

Before founding CloudRidge, Yu spent five years with sovereign wealth fund China Investment Corporation as head of the $10 billion global equity team.

Yu reports to Joseph Amato, president and chief investment officer of equities.

Neuberger Berman already has a China bond strategy and a minority stake in Green Court, an independent firm that manages the Neuberger Berman Greater China Equity fund. 

With the new addition, Neuberger Berman will have different China equity solutions that will be managed in-house by Yu’s team and by Green Court.

UBS APPOINTS VICE CHAIRMAN FOR JAPAN WEALTH TEAM 

UBS Wealth Management Japan has appointed Toshikazu Kato as vice chairman effective July 17.

In this newly created role, Kato-san will support the coverage and acquisition of new clients, and work closely with client advisers.

He reports to Victor Chang, Japan head for wealth management.

Kato-san was most recently a corporate adviser to HSBC, and before that he was the global bank's Japan corporate banking head.

HSBC declined to comment on when Kato left the organisation.

FULLGOAL POACHES FROM FIDELITY

Chinese fund house Fullgoal Fund Management has appointed Zhao Nianshen senior equity research analyst based in Shanghai, effective in June, according to Zhao’s LinkedIn.

Zhao was previously based in Hong Kong, working as a research associate at Fidelity International until June.

Fullgoal declined to comment. Fidelity did not respond to queries from AsianInvestor by press time.