Weekly roundup of people news, June 19
PNB CHIEF RESIGNS, CITING HARASSMENT
The chief executive of Permodalan Nasional Berhad (PNB), Malaysia’s state-linked asset manager, announced on June 15 that he had stepped down that day, citing harassment of himself and his family.
Jalil Rasheed had returned to his native country from Singapore to take up the role in October with a view to overseeing major changes at PNB, including a big increase in its overseas investment at the RM312 billion ($73 billion) fund manager.
But his tenure has only lasted nine months.
“Over the past week, I have been harassed by abusive phone calls from private numbers, hacking of my other (non-PNB) corporate account. My LinkedIn account was also hacked,” Rasheed tweeted.
“This level of harassment made me worry for my family’s wellbeing,” he added. “In the end it was not worth the effort when my family was unfairly being dragged into this unfortunate situation.”
Rasheed said on his LinkedIn page he was on the lookout for a new challenge.
Ahmad Zulqarnain, the deputy managing director of Malaysian sovereign wealth fund Khazanah Nasional, has reportedly been offered the CEO role at PNB following Rasheed’s resignation.
And former Khazanah head Azman Mokhtar has reportedly been tapped for the role of chairman to succeed Zeti Akhtar Aziz, whose tenure will end on July 1.
A spokeswoman for PNB said: "It would be premature for PNB to comment at this juncture. PNB will provide an update in due course."
Barings, an asset manager owned by US insurer MassMutual, hired John Ratcliffe to the newly created role of head of Asia Pacific real estate to build a regional property platform covering both equity and debt.
He joined on June 17 from Australia’s Challenger Real Estate and now reports to Charles Weeks, head of Europe and Asia Pacific real estate equity.
Sydney-based Ratcliffe will mainly be responsible for sourcing investment opportunities in the region, with an initial focus on Australia and Japan, before exploring opportunities in China and other geographies, as well as assisting with capital raising.
Ratcliffe will look to build investment teams in Asia Pacific focusing on Australia, Japan and China, with other markets also under consideration, a spokeswoman told AsianInvestor.
Barings manages around $40 billion of real estate debt assets and $15.4 billion in real estate equity across the US and Europe, but does not yet manage any property assets in Asia Pacific, she added.
The hire comes after Barings heavily cut its equity investment capabilities last year with a view – one well placed source said – to refocusing on its core strategy of corporate debt, as well as on private markets.
At Challenger, Ratcliffe spent 12 years as executive director of transactions and capital raising. Previously, he worked in asset management at Niecon Developments, an Australian high-end residential and mixed-use developer.
A spokesman for Challenger said the firm only commented on C-suite appointments and moves.
AMP CAPITAL APPOINTS NEW CEO
Australian asset manager AMP Capital has promoted Boe Pahari to chief executive to replace Adam Tindall, who is retiring.
The appointment will be effective on July 1. Pahari is currently AMP Capital’s London-based global head of infrastructure equity and director for north west region, which includes the UK, Europe and the Americas.
As CEO, Pahari will continue to oversee the infrastructure equity business and he will split his time between the firm's offices, said a spokesman.
He declined to comment on whether AMP Capital would appoint a successor to Pahari in his previous role.
BNP PARIBAS CARDIF NAMES TAIWAN CEO
Hong Kong-based BNP Paribas Cardif has appointed Christine Cheu as chief executive for Taiwan, effective June 15.
She reports to and replaces Ooi See-see, who in April last year was promoted to Hong Kong-based CEO for Asia. Ooi also looked after BNP Paribas Cardif in Taiwan after her promotion.
Prior to joining BNP Paribas Cardif, Cheu was Singapore-based general manager at Raffles Health Insurance, which declined to comment on her departure.
FORMER VALUE PARTNERS EXEC JOINS HEUNGKONG
David Quah, a former senior executive at Value Partners, last month joined Hong Kong-based financial services firm HeungKong Financial Group as managing director for external asset management.
He is responsible for multi-asset allocation for professional investors, his LinkedIn profile shows. HeungKong declined to comment on his appointment.
Quah was formerly the managing director for quantitative investment solutions at Value Partners, a position he left in March. The Hong Kong-based fund house declined to confirm whether he would be replaced.
BRIAN LOU TO MANAGE NEW UBS FIXED INCOME FUND
UBS Asset Management has confirmed that Brian Lou will manage a newly launched China onshore fixed income fund, UBS (CN) China Yufeng Fixed Income Bond Strategic Series 5 Private Securities Investment Fund.
The fund was launched on June 5 and is the ninth fixed income fund run by UBS Asset Management's Shanghai unit. The nine funds cover cash management strategy, fixed maturity strategy and flexible bond investing. The latest fund seeks to hold bonds to maturity.
Shanghai-based Lou is now the fund manager of all nine China onshore bond funds, the first of which launched in 2018. He reports to Hayden Briscoe, head of fixed income for Asia Pacific and has been with the firm since July 2017.
MSCI RAIDS JP MORGAN FOR GREATER CHINA HEAD
Index provider MSCI has hired Julia Wu from JP Morgan as head of Greater China client coverage, effective May 6.
Based in Shanghai, Wu is responsible for Greater China client coverage across the index, analytics, ESG and real estate businesses. She reports to Jack Lin, Asia Pacific head of client coverage.
MSCI declined to comment on whether Wu had replaced anybody in taking the position.
Wu had previously been the head of corporate banking for JP Morgan's China unit. JP Morgan declined to comment on when she left the firm and if she will be replaced.
Before working at JP Morgan, Wu held senior leadership roles at HSBC, Deutsche Bank and various industry bodies.
CREDIT SUISSE HIRES HEADS OF CHINA WEALTH AND APAC TRADING
Credit Suisse has hired Wang Jing from China Merchants Bank as head of wealth management for onshore China and Emmanuel Triomphe from UBS as Asia Pacific head of trading solutions sales and advisory for its private banking arm.
The Swiss bank revealed Wang had started in the newly created role in an internal memo on Monday (June 15). She had worked at China Merchants since 2007 and had led and built its private banking business.
A spokeswoman said the appointment was part of the bank's effort to expand its China oshore presence, but declined to comment on who had covered China wealth management before Wang joined.
Wang will initially be based in Hong Kong and reports to Francois Monnet, head of private banking for North Asia, and to Tang Zhenyi, chief executive for China.
Part of Wang’s role will be to assist in the strategic development of Credit Suisse’s third-party partnership plans. Like many international banks, Credit Suisse wants to grow in China to tap the increasing number of wealthy people there.
A CMB spokesperson did not respond to AsianInvestor questions about how the bank intended to replace Wang.
Credit Suisse also announced Triomphe’s appointment via an internal memo. Based in Hong Kong, he reports to Yves-Alain Sommerhalder, head of Asia Pacific trading solutions, but will also have a dotted reporting line to Francois Monnet and Benjamin Cavalli, the heads of private banking for North and South Asia, respectively.
The spokeswoman declined to comment on whether Triomphe's appointment was into a new role, and who had covered private banking trading and solutions before he arrived.
Previously Triomphe was the global head of structured products for UBS Wealth Management, where he had covered equity, fixed income, foreign exchange and direct access.
A UBS spokeswoman said Triomphe left the firm "recently" and that it had undergone an internal restructuring in which his former unit was merged with the global markets team of its investment banking division. As a result it has not replaced him.
JP MORGAN PRIVATE BANK APPOINTS SOUTHEAST ASIA HEAD
JP Morgan Private Bank has promoted James Wey to head of Southeast Asia from his previous role as head of Taiwan.
Wey, who will relocate from his current position in Hong Kong to Singapore, is replacing Rahul Malhotra. The latter will take on a new role focusing on special projects and multi-family office strategy, a spokeswoman told AsianInvestor.
She declined to say when Wey would start in the new post, noting only that he was "transitioning to the new role". Once he does so, he will report to JP Morgan Asia’s chief executive Kwang Kam-Shing.
Meanwhile Malhotra now reports to Nicolas Aguzin, chief executive of the international private bank.
Wey has been with the US bank for 12 years and became head of Taiwan in 2018. Before joining JP Morgan he was a consultant with McKinsey.
Wey will be replaced as Taiwan head by Anita Mak, formerly head of lending solutions for Asia. The spokeswoman said the bank would announce a successor for Mak in the coming weeks.
HP WEALTH MANAGEMENT HIRES SANDAIRE’S EX-ASIA HEAD
Singapore-based HP Wealth Management has brought in Nadav Lehavy, the former Asia head of London-based multi-family office Sandaire, to help develop business with individuals and families.
Lehavy started as senior relationship manager on June 15, reporting to Urs Brutsch, HP’s managing partner and founder.
The role was newly created with a view to expanding the firm’s footprint, Brutsch told AsianInvestor.
Lehavy was with Sandaire until February 2019, and then in July 2019 worked as a commercial consultant at Aktivolabs, a provider of health and lifestyle apps, according to his LinkedIn page. He will continue to consult for Aktivolabs alongside his role at HP, said Brutsch.
MULTI-FAMILY OFFICE GOLDEN EQUATOR ADDS DUO
Singapore-based multi-family office Golden Equator Wealth hired two senior executives on June 15 as part of its expansion plan to add capabilities in client-facing and investment roles.
Rainer Michael Preiss has joined as portfolio strategist and Ritu Khera as wealth manager, and both report to Gary Tiernan, managing partner of Golden Equator Wealth.
Preiss was previously chief investment officer for equities at The Global CIO Office, an outsourced CIO provider based in Singapore. The Global CIO Office declined to comment on whether Preiss would be replaced.
Khera was a relationship manager at BNP Paribas Wealth Management until August 2018. Since then she has been pursuing personal business and family interests in India, a spokesman for Golden Equator said.
Other people news reported in the past week by AsianInvestor: