Weekly roundup of people news, July 8
Deutsche AM names Asia real estate head
Deutsche Asset Management (Deutsche AM) has named Victoria Sharpe as head of real estate for Asia Pacific, based in Singapore, effective July 1.
This area previously fell under the remit of Nadir Maruf, formerly Asia-Pacific head of alternatives and real assets based Singapore. He left in June to pursue other interests, having been with the firm since 2006.
Sharpe reports to Pierre Cherki, New York-based global head of alternatives, and joins the Deutsche AM Asia-Pacific executive committee.
Sharpe was most recently head of the global client capital group at property asset manager TH Real Estate. Prior to that, she was managing director at Prudential Investment Management and head of Asia Pacific for Prudential Real Estate Investors.
Sharpe has 30 years’ experience in developing and executing global real estate strategies across London, New York, Singapore and Munich.
Deutsche AM’s real estate business has €47.4 billion ($54 billion) under management, more than half of the firm’s total alternatives AUM of €78.5 billion as at March 31. The firm declined to provide a breakdown for Asia Pacific.
StanChart PB replaces Asean/South Asia head
Standard Chartered has hired Srinivas Siripurapu as head of private banking for Asean and South Asia and its first global head for non-resident Indian (NRI) business, effective July 5.
Based in Singapore, he reports to Didier von Daeniken, global head of private banking and wealth management, also based in the Lion City. Von Daeniken and Siripurapu worked together at Barclays and left the bank a month apart from each other.
Von Daeniken, previously Barclay’s head of wealth management for Asia Pacific, resigned in December to replace Michael Benz at StanChart, as reported.
Siripurapu had been head of Southeast Asia, global South Asian community and Africa offshore at Barclays, but resigned in January.
Siripurapu takes over the Asean and South Asia remit from Peter Kok, who is leaving the bank.
The global NRI role is newly created, said StanChart; the bank has NRI specialists but has not run this business at a global level in the past.
Prior to joining Barclays, Siripurapu held leadership positions at UBS in Singapore and ABN Amro in India.
Singaporean bank OCBC bought Barclays' Asian wealth management business earlier this year, as reported.
EFG announces post-BSI merger management
Swiss firm EFG International has named Albert Chiu as head of Asia for the combined EFG and BSI Bank business, following the merger of the two private banks. He had previously held the same role for EFG.
The appointment is part of EFG’s announcement of its new global management structure for the combined entity. It will become effective as of the date of the closing of the transaction, expected in the fourth quarter of 2016.
The move comes after BSI Bank was ordered to shut down in Singapore by the local regulator for serious breaches of anti-money laundering requirements, poor management oversight of operations and gross misconduct by some of its staff.
The Monetary Authority of Singapore also referred to the Public Prosecutor the names of six of BSI’s current and former employees to evaluate whether they had committed criminal offences.
Several senior BSI executives had already stepped down from their posts prior to the MAS move, including former Asia CEO Hanspeter Brunner in March and his subsequent replacement Raj Sriram in May. Both men were among the six referred to the Public Prosecutor.
After the completion of the merger, BSI will operate as a separate subsidiary within EFG International’s holding structure until its full integration, which will take place market by market and is planned for completion by mid-2017.
JP Morgan PB appoints Asia equities head
JP Morgan Private Bank has appointed Lemuel Lee as head of equities for Asia, succeeding Guillaume Chatain, who is pursuing new opportunities within the firm after five years in the equities role.
Lee joins from the corporate investment banking division of JP Morgan, where he was most recently Asia-Pacific head of third-party distribution for equity derivatives. He now reports to Clayton Erwin, global head of equities at the private bank.
JP Morgan declined to say which role Chatain would be taking up, as it has not yet been announced internally.
FPI hires new Hong Kong MD
UK insurance firm Friends Provident International (FPI) has appointed John Elkovich as managing director for Hong Kong, effective August 1 and subject to regulatory approval. He will report directly to FPI's London-based CEO, Adrian Emery.
Elkovich succeeds Charles Barrows, who has been named vice president director of Astra Aviva Life in Indonesia, a joint-venture between UK insurer Aviva and Indonesia’s Astra International. The appointment is also subject to regulatory approval.
Elkovich was most recently Singapore-based head of investment advisory and wealth planning for Asia at ANZ. He was involved in the launch and development of the Australian bank’s investment advisory and wealth planning business in Hong Kong in 2009 and Singapore in 2010.
ANZ did not respond to a query about whether Elkovich had been replaced. The bank has recently undergone a restructuring and seen a number of departures from its Asian wealth management business, as reported.
FPI has been restructuring its Asia management team following its acquisition by Aviva, resulting in the resignation of James Tan as head of FPI Asia Pacific, as reported.
According to his LinkedIn page, Tan joined Japan's Tokio Marine Insurance Group as managing director in June based in Singapore. Tokio Marine did not respond to a request for comment by press time.
Partners Group to open Manila office
Partners Group, a Swiss private markets investment manager, plans to open an office in the Philippines in September. It will act as a services hub for the firm’s affiliates, and recruitment has already begun for a diverse range of roles.
The Manila branch will host critical support functions in relation to client reporting, fund accounting, treasury, IT, technology, HR and marketing services.
Two of Partners’ long-standing employees have moved from Singapore to head the new office, said a spokeswoman, declining to name them.
Partners Group is likely to build out to incorporate additional teams and functions as the office grows, she added. The firm expects to have around 20 people in Manila by the end of the year and more than 100 by 2020.
There are no current plans to build an investment team on the ground in the Philippines, noted the spokeswoman. The country will continue to be covered as an investment destination by the team in Singapore.
The office opening comes on the back of the firm’s continued growth in investment activity and assets under management, which has boosted demand for its internal services teams, said Christoph Rubeli, Co-CEO of Partners Group.
The firm considered several locations before deciding on Manila, which has developed into a thriving global business hub in recent years, he added.
Partners Group opened its first Asian office in Singapore in 2004, followed by Tokyo in 2007 and Sydney and Seoul in 2008. It now also has offices in Shanghai and Mumbai and employs 250 people in the Asia-Pacific region.
Headquartered in Zug, Switzerland, Partners Group has €46 billion ($50 billion) invested in private equity, private real estate, private infrastructure and private debt.
Credit Suisse PB appoints new Philippines head
Credit Suisse Private Banking has hired Carole Cheung as market group head for the Philippines, reporting to Benjamin Cavalli, Credit Suisse Private Banking Southeast Asia head.
Based in Hong Kong, Cheung replaced Angela Bow, who has joined Julius Baer as head of emerging Asia.
Cheung joined from BNP Paribas Wealth Management, where she was a managing director in charge of the Philippines market. BNP Paribas declined to comment on whether it has replaced Cheung.
Cheung has held senior roles at Barclays Wealth Management, HSBC Private Bank and Citibank Private Bank, among others.
OCP adds portfolio manager
Credit-oriented fund manager OCP Asia, with offices in Singapore and Hong Kong, has appointed Ernest Lee as a senior portfolio manager, starting in August. Based in Singapore in the newly created role, he will cover investment origination, deal assessment and risk management across Asia Pacific.
Lee will join OCP Asia from Japanese bank Nomura, where he was head of principal finance for Asia ex-Japan. Prior to this, he worked at Deutsche Bank as head of private finance structuring for Southeast Asia and at Credit Suisse in senior roles in the emerging-markets financing business.
Singapore EAM poaches from Credit Suisse
Singapore-based independent asset manager TriLake Partners has added Daniel Brunner as senior client relationship manager for Greater China clients, reporting to chief executive Lucie Hulme.
He joined on July 1 from Credit Suisse Private Banking based in Zurich, where he was a relationship manager for high-net-worth clients.
Hulme said there would be two more specialists joining the firm in the next few weeks as part of its growth strategy in the region.
StanChart PB names acting CEO for India
Standard Chartered has named Aman Rajoria as interim head of private banking for India. He is presently market head for west India and has been with the bank for 16 years.
Rajoria will take over from Sandeep Das, who has resigned after nearly 20 years with the bank and whose last day will be at the end of August.
StanChart declined to comment on why Rajoria had been appointed acting CEO rather than being given the permanent role.
Other people news reported by AsianInvestor in the past week:
Quant manager AQR opens Hong Kong office