Weekly roundup of people news, Mar 1
ALLIANZ NAMES ASIA CEO FOR P&C BUSINESS
Effective today (March 1), German insurer Allianz has appointed Claudia Salem as its new Asia-Pacific chief executive for property and casualty.
Salem will be responsible for the profit and loss and the functional development of Allianz’s P&C business in the region, including its long-term bancassurance relationship with Standard Chartered Bank.
She is based in Singapore, and reports to George Sartorel, Allianz's Asia Pacific CEO. Salem is also becoming a member of the Allianz Asia Pacific executive board.
Before joining Allianz, Salem was the Singapore CEO and head of Southeast Asia for US insurer AIG.
Salem possesses over 15 years of experience at Allianz, during which she worked in various leadership roles across operations management, business development and customer solutions.
ZURICH APPOINTS CEO FOR FAMILY TAKAFUL BIZ IN MALAYSIA
Zurich Malaysia has appointed Mukesh Dhawan as the chief executive of Zurich Takaful Malaysia.
The appointment is effective today (March 1). Dhawan is responsible for expanding the family takaful business in Malaysia and reports to ZTM’s board of directors.
Dhawan is previously the general manager and head of market management at Zurich Life Insurance Malaysia. He succeeds Salim Majid Zain, who left the company in January 2019.
AsianInvestor could not ascertain what Salim Majid Zain is doing after he left Zurich Malaysia.
FIDELITY APPOINTS HEAD OF INSTO SALES IN HK
Fidelity International has appointed David Leishman as head of Hong Kong institutional sales and consultant relations for Asia ex-Japan.
Leishman took up the role in January and he was previously head of RFP support and director of consultation relations for Asia ex-Japan, according to his LinkedIn profile.
A Fidelity spokeswoman declined to comment on the person that Leishman has replaced, his reporting line and other details.
ALLIANZ AUSTRALIA NAMES BOARD MEMBER
Allianz Australia has appointed Paula Dwyer as director on the insurer’s board, effective February 18.
Dwyer will continue to serve as chairman and non-executive director of Healthscope, an Australian healthcare provider, a Healthscope spokesman told AsianInvestor. She was formerly member of the ASIC external advisory board and director of Suncorp and RACV,
She is also currently a director of the Australian-based ANZ and Lion, a beverage food operators in Australia and New Zealand.
Her position at Allianz Australia was newly created to "further strengthen our Board’s breadth", an insurer’s spokesman told AsianInvestor.
Dwyer is a chartered accountant and has previously been involved in investment management and investment banking at Ord Minnett (now JP Morgan) and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).
SWISS-ASIA ADDS SENIOR WEALTH EXEC IN HK
Swiss-Asia Asset Management (HK), part of Singapore-headquartered asset and wealth manager Swiss Asia Group, has added a senior relationship manager with a view to expanding its base of private individual clients and family offices in the city.
Charlie Bigard-Ong started in Hong Kong in February as executive director covering international clients, in a newly created role.
Founded in 2004, Swiss-Asia has $2.5 billion in assets under management and 90 staff, and set up the Hong Kong office in 2010.
French national Bigard-Ong was most recently a relationship manager at Liechtenstein firm LGT Bank in Hong Kong, and prior to that ABN Amro Private Bank before it was acquired by LGT in 2017. She left LGT in October last year.
Her career also includes stints with Schroders Private Banking, Julius Baer and MeesPierson Fortis Bank.
JP MORGAN NAMES GLOBAL HEAD OF SUSTAINABLE INVESTING
JP Morgan has appointed Jennifer Wu as London-based global head of sustainable investing.
The appointment was effective February 25. She reports to Shari Schiffman, global co-head of product strategy, who is based in New York. Wu leads the sustainable investment leadership (Silt) team to meet increasing client demand for sustainable investing.
Her role is newly created, a spokeswoman told AsianInvestor. A cross-functional team was in charge of the Silt desk before Wu assumed the new role, she said, without being more specific.
Before joining JP Morgan, Wu was responsible for sustainable investing at Blackrock in New York, according to her LinkedIn profile. Blackrock did not immediately reply to AsianInvestor’s queries about her departure.
BANK J. SAFRA SARASIN APPOINTS MD
Bank J. Safra Sarasin has named Kin Cheung as Hong Kong-based managing director for client advisory.
Cheung reports to Angie Ma, managing director and vice chair for client advisory. The bank did not reply to AsianInvestor’s query about when the appointment became effective and the person that Cheung has replaced.
Prior to Bank J. Safra Sarasin, he worked at BNP Paribas as managing director of China market, according to his LinkedIn profile. BNP Paribas declined to comment on his exit.
STANCHART HIRES OLD HAND AS DUBAI PRIVATE BANKING ADVISER
Richard Pattle has been appointed senior adviser for Standard Chartered Private Bank, effective 1 March 2019, in his second stint at the bank.
Pattle will be based in Dubai and reports to Tracy Clarke, regional CEO for Europe and Americas, Standard Chartered Bank. in addition, he will head global strategic partnerships and investments, according to the press release announcing his appointment.
The appointment marks a return to the fold for Pattle, who had worked at Standard Chartered for nearly four years until last March, as vice chairman of the private bank. He left to become CEO of KEF Holdings, the Dubai-based multinational diversified group with strategic investments across sectors and a specialization in innovative offsite construction technology.
Before being appointed vice chairman Pattle led Standard Chartered Private Bank’s London office for ultra high net-worth clients, where he focused on client engagement initiatives.
The Swiss Asia story has been updated to show the firm's AUM and number of staff.
Other people news reported by AsianInvestor last week: