Weekly roundup of people news, March 6
ANZ private banking chief departs
The head of private banking at ANZ has left the bank after the firm merged its wealth and private banking units in Asia. Singapore-based Manfred Liechti left ANZ on February 27. Liechti was previously at Coutts, where he was head of Southeast Asia until 2012. Liechti joined ANZ in May 2013 as managing director of global private banking. ANZ did not reply to a query about where Liechti was moving to.
Singapore-based Bret Packard, currently managing director for the wealth unit, has taken on the responsibilities for private banking. He reports to Joyce Phillips, Melbourne-based chief of global wealth.
An ANZ spokeswoman said the move followed a business review of its Asia operations and there wouldn't be any more departures from the bank.
Kevin Ong, head of private bank for Southeast Asia, and Arjan De Boer, head of private banking for North Asia, now report to Packard.
ANZ has private banking operations in Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan and Indonesia.
Aberdeen takes on property chief
William Shaw joined Aberdeen Asset Management as Asia-Pacific head of segregated property mandates on February 3. In the newly-created role, Singapore-based Shaw reports to Russell Chaplin, Aberdeen’s London-based chief investment officer for property.
Shaw’s most recent role was in Hong Kong as an independent consultant on real estate investments (2014-2015). Before that he worked in real estate investment and advisory roles in Hong Kong and China for Everview Capital Partners (2012-2013), Composition Capital Partners (2006-2012), Lowe Enterprises Asia (2002-2006) and Cushman & Wakefield (1998-2000).
Last week, Aberdeen’s Asia managing director Hugh Young told AsianInvestor that the firm was expanding into direct property investments, which Shaw has been hired for.
UBP loses head of Asia
The Asia head of Union Bancaire Privée (UBP) is to leave the firm this year, the Swiss private bank has announced.
After more than four years at UBP, Singapore-based Stephan Repkow will leave the private bank in the second half of this year, possibly as soon as July. A replacement has not yet been found for Repkow, but he is understood to be staying in his post for the coming months in order to assist the bank with the transition. The bank would not comment on where Repkow is moving to or the reasons for his departure.
Repkow joined UBP as Asia CEO in February 2011 with a mandate to implement the bank’s strategy, build out its team and develop its activities in Asia-Pacific.
Before joining UBP, Repkow was chief investment officer at Swiss-Asia Financial Services, a Singapore-registered fund management company. He previously worked at Deutsche Asset Management, Citi Private Bank and BNP Paribas in Singapore and Hong Kong.
When contacted by AsianInvestor, Repkow declined to comment.
In a statement, UBP said: “[Repkow's] help in growing the Bank’s private banking business in Asia has been greatly appreciated and his departure does not impact UBP’s growth strategy there, which is a key development region for the Bank – as illustrated by the recent partnership agreement it concluded in China and the opening of a new company in Shanghai.”
AMP shuffles multi-strategy team
AMP Capital’s Sydney-based multi-strategy team has seen a number of internal moves, all effective March 31.
Lachlan Davis, co-head of AMP Capital’s multi-strategy funds, has been promoted to sole head. Mark McClatchey – currently co-head of multi-strategy funds – is moving to a newly-created role of head of multi-strategy research.
Rob Pinnuck and Reuben De Barros have been promoted to deputy heads of the multi-strategy team, from their current roles as senior portfolio managers. Matthew Salmon has been promoted to portfolio manager from portfolio analyst.
The firm has also made a Hong Kong-based hire, effective March 16. Nicholas Koh has been appointed senior portfolio manager of the multi-strategy team. Koh joins from Eastspring Investments, where he has managed more than $2 billion of Greater China equity strategies since 2010. Prior to relocating to Hong Kong with Eastspring Investments (then called Prudential Asset Management) in 2006, Koh managed Australian equities in the multi-strategy team between 2001-06.
General Atlantic SE Asia head departs
Private equity group General Atlantic has seen the departure of its Southeast Asia head after 12 years at the firm. Nicholas Nash joined Singapore-based web game and social media platform Garena as president in December 2014, it was announced on March 2.
Nash worked for the PE firm between August 2002 and December 2014 according to his LinkedIn profile, most recently as head of Southeast Asia. Before that he was a consultant at McKinsey & Co from 2000 to 2002.
Garena was among US-based General Atlantic’s first Asean investments. On March 2, Garena also announced that it had closed a new round of fundraising, led by the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan.
A Singapore-based spokesman for General Atlantic declined to name Nash’s replacement but said that the firm “should soon finalise the paperwork” for the appointment.
General Atlantic’s India managing director Sandeep Naik has been performing Nash’s role since he left, according to a headhunter.
According to the PE firm’s website, its Singapore office employs three investment professionals and a special advisor, namely Lee Hsien Yang, former Fraser & Neave chairman (2007-2013) and SingTel CEO (1995-2007). This compares with one investment professional based in the firm’s Hong Kong office, four in its Beijing office and nine based in Mumbai, according to the firm’s website.
Mercer makes fiduciary appointment
Mercer has promoted Amit Popat to leader for fiduciary management in growth markets. London-based Popat assumed his newly-created role on March 5 and will transfer to Mercer’s Singapore office in June. Popat will report to Atlanta-based Jeff Schutes, senior partner and investments business leader for growth markets.
Popat joined Mercer in February 2007 as part of the firm’s fiduciary management team. Prior to his promotion, his most recent position was head of EMEA, strategy and business development.
Popat will be responsible for developing and implementing strategies to expand Mercer's investments business in Latin America, South Africa, the Middle East, Asia and Greater China.
Popat joined Mercer from Banco Santander Group, where he was a senior vice president and head of the UK office. He was also head of the firm’s institutional business with responsibilities for developing the institutional infrastructure globally and for overseeing the company’s fund of hedge funds. Prior to that he worked at Northern Trust Global Investments, where he was responsible for expanding the business across a range of clients within the UK, Ireland and the Nordic countries.
The appointment comes in the same week that Mercer Investments completed the acquisition of Zurich-headquartered SCM Strategic Capital Management.
In an announcement on March 2, Mercer said that following the completion of the transaction, SCM’s board of directors had stepped down. Mercer said the future SCM board would consist of Stefan Sander, Stefan Hepp and Al Paas.
Mercer said in a statement that “all [SCM] staff will continue to be employed by our company”.
SuMi Trust GAS appoints new Ireland CEO
SuMi Trust Global Asset Services, a provider of operational and administration support services to institutional asset managers, has appointed Hiromitsu Tanaka as chief executive for Ireland.
Dublin-based Tanaka assumed his new position on March 1 and will manage the integration of the Irish fund administration into the group’s global model.
Tanaka was previously based in New York as CEO of the global custody business, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank (USA), after which he was CEO of Japan Information System, a company affiliated to SuMi Trust.
He has replaced Karl McErneff, who has taken up the role of chairman and non-executive director effective March 1.
McErneff established Daiwa Global Asset Services in Ireland in 1990 and had been the CEO since then. In 2012, Sumitomo Trust Bank acquired Daiwa Global Asset Services from Daiwa Securities.
Wealth-X takes on new CFO
Financial research firm Wealth-X has hired Richard Green as its new chief financial officer. New York-based Green started at Wealth-X on February 19 and is responsible for the firm’s finance and accounting globally. He will report to Wealth-X CEO Mykolas Rambus.
Green was most recently president and CEO of New York-based research house Roubini Global Economics. He worked at Roubini from December 2006 to December 2014. Prior to becoming CEO he held the positions of CFO and chief operating officer.
Before joining Roubini, Green was controller of worldwide cost at advertising agency network Foote, Cone & Belding, and assistant treasurer at aviation firm Servisair. Both positions were in New York.
Green succeeds Matt Foley, who left the company in December 2014. A Wealth-X spokesman would only say he had left ‘to pursue other interests’.
Roubini has hired Terry Waters to replace Green as president and CEO. Waters joined Roubini on December 9 last year, and was most recently president of Evanta, a US leadership development firm.
It comes just weeks after Wealth-X acquired London-based Ledbury Research, a wealth market research and advisory firm.
Other people moves reported in the past week on AsianInvestor: