Weekly roundup of people news, Nov 8
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PRUDENTIAL SINGAPORE'S RISK OFFICER TAKES ON NEW ROLE
Prudential Singapore’s Chief Risk Officer Jackie Chew was named the new chief operations officer.
Gaurav Bhalla, the company’s deputy chief risk officer since May 2024, succeeds Chew to become chief risk officer.
The appointments took effect from November 1.
Both Chew and Bhalla have spent more than 10 years in various management roles within Prudential Group.
Chew had been the company’s chief risk officer for the past seven years, while Bhalla was part of Prudential Group’s risk leadership team since 2018.
BlackRock named Lee Yoon Pyo as managing director and head of South Korea, effective December 20.
Based in Seoul, Lee will be responsible for developing and executing a long-term business strategy for BlackRock in South Korea.
He joins from Morgan Stanley Investment Management, where he was head of Korea.
Lee has over 25 years of experience in private and public market investment and business development.
Previously, Lee was co-CEO at Truston Asset Management.
AMUNDI NAMES HEAD OF INVESTMENTS FOR ASIA
Florian Neto was named head of investment, Asia, for Amundi, effective November 2024.
Based in Hong Kong, he will oversee Amundi’s investment activities across the region, excluding Japan.
This is a newly-created role, a spokesperson told AsianInvestor.
Neto was previously head of investment, Hong Kong and Taiwan and head of multi asset, Asia, since 2022.
He will remain directly responsible for the multi-asset platform for the investment manager in Asia.
He functionally reports to John O’Toole, head of multi-asset investment solutions and Yerlan Syzdykov, global head of emerging markets and co-head of emerging markets fixed income, a spokesperson told AsianInvestor.
Locally, he reports to Eddy Wong, CEO of Asia, the spokesperson added.
He is also lead or co-lead portfolio manager on a range of open-ended funds and institutional multi-asset mandates for Asian clients, and leads the outsourced CIO function for Asian clients.
He started his career at Amundi in New York in 2010.
MALAYSIA’S KWAP APPOINTS CHIEF STRATEGY OFFICER
Malaysia’s public pension fund Kumpulan Wang Persaraan (KWAP) promoted Nazaiful Affendi Zainal Abidin to the newly-created role of chief strategy and services officer.
Nazaiful has worked at the fund since 2008, most recently as head of portfolio strategy and research.
KWAP declined to comment on an AsianInvestor enquirty on who would succeed Nazaiful in his previous role.
KWAP is Malaysia’s second largest pension fund, with $43.3 billion of assets as of end-June.
FORMER SUPER FUND CIO JOINS BELLMONT
Former Australian Catholic Super investment chief Michael Block has joined boutique portfolio manager Bellmont Securities to lead its investment strategy and portfolio management operations.
Block will work alongside the existing investment team and collaborate with key client Genium Investment Partners to strengthen the firm's investment processes and support its growth plans.
Block, who brings over 40 years of industry experience, was previously chief investment officer at the $7.3 billion (A$11 billion) super fund before its 2022 merger with UniSuper.
His career includes roles as investment chief at Papua New Guinea's Nambawan Super and senior positions at WorkCover NSW.
COLONIAL FIRST STATE RESTRUCTURES MULTI-ASSET TEAM
Colonial First State has restructured its multi-assets team following key personnel changes.
The wealth and superannuation manager has promoted Ernest Kwok to assistant portfolio manager after nearly nine years with the firm, where he started as an investment analyst.
The promotion is part of a broader reorganisation following the departure of senior investment manager Jujhar Toki to CH Warman Group, a Sydney-based family office.
Toki's responsibilities have been distributed among three team members: the newly promoted Kwok, senior investment analyst Chetan Soorkea, and portfolio manager Ritesh Prasad.
Soorkea has been with the firm for nearly five years and was previously an investment consultant with WTW.
Prasad joined six months ago from MLC Asset Management.
MAS FINTECH CHIEF TAKES ON NEW ROLE
Sopnendu Mohanty, chief fintech officer of the Monetary Authority of Singapore, will step down from his role and join non-profit Global Finance and Technology Network (GFTN) as CEO.
He will join on February 1, 2025.
and Leong Sing Chiong
Mohanty joined MAS in 2015 and has been the face of fintech development in the city state.
At GFTN, he joins former MAS Managing Director Ravi Menon who was appointed chairman of the board of directors of the non-profit.
Menon was head of MAS between 2011 to early 2024. He was also appointed Singapore’s first ambassador for climate action earlier this year.
Leong Sing Chiong, deputy managing director of MAS, and Neil Parekh, nominated member of parliament, Singapore and non-executive chairman at Tikehau Capital, were named deputy chairmen.
The Global FinTech Network (GFTN) will be overseen by an international advisory board.
GFTN will have four strategic businesses:
GFTN Forums - a global conference convenor dedicated to finance and technology;
GFTN Advisory - a knowledge centre offering practitioner-led advisory services and research;
GFTN Platforms - a digital platform service provider for businesses, especially small and medium enterprises;
GFTN Capital - an investment fund for technology start-ups.