Weekly roundup of people news, Oct 29
SUN LIFE NAMES NEW ASIA PRESIDENT
Canadian life insurer Sun Life Financial has appointed Ingrid Johnson as its new president of Sun Life Asia, effective Tuesday (October 26). Johnson will be responsible for life, health and wealth management businesses in eight Asian markets – China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Vietnam.
Johnson is based in Hong Kong, and reports to Kevin Strain, president and chief executive officer of Sun Life Financial, the life insurer told AsianInvestor. She succeeds Léo Grépin, who left Sun Life on October 15 to pursue other opportunities, and whose next step has not been disclosed yet.
Johnson has more than 25 years of international commercial experience in the insurance and financial services industries. Most recently, she was the group finance director of dual London and South Africa listed Old Mutual and a member of its various subsidiary boards.
MANULIFE HK CONFIRMS NEW COO APPOINTMENT
Manulife Hong Kong confirmed that it has appointed Candy Au Yeung as its new chief operations officer in an announcement on Wednesday and revealed more details of the move, following AsianInvestor’s report last week.
Au Yeung joins Manulife Hong Kong’s senior management team and reports jointly to Damien Green, chief executive officer of Manulife Hong Kong, and Mark Van Den Broek, chief information officer and chief operations officer of Manulife Asia. She started the new role on October 18.
Before Au Yeung’s appointment, chief information officer Anthony Buchanan was also the interim COO, as the former COO Edgar Chan has become the head of in-force management since May 1, the life insurer told AsianInvestor.
In her role, Au Yeung is responsible for driving Manulife Hong Kong's operational strategies and leading its core insurance operations such as underwriting, claims, policy administration, office and agency support, high-net-worth operations and customer service functions.
Au Yeung has over 20 years of experience in operations at life and medical insurance companies. Before joining, she was with Prudential Hong Kong for over eight years. She was most recently the senior director of customer and claims servicing, medical network of operations. Prudential Hong Kong declined to comment on Au Yeung’s replacement.
QIC GLOBAL REAL ESTATE APPOINTS HEALTHCARE GM
Nicholas Skulander has joined the Queensland Investment Corporation’s (QIC) global real estate arm as general manager of healthcare, the firm revealed on Thursday (October 28).
Effective October 18, this newly created role entails setting investment strategies in healthcare real estate, establishing strategic partnerships, securing investments, and implementing new capital solutions.
Skulander reports to Ryan Murphy, director of global real estate strategy, from real estate investment trust company Dexus where he specialised in healthcare opportunities. He has also held senior roles at NSW Health Infrastructure and Centuria.
In 2019, the firm had reportedly made healthcare a single core theme across private equity, infrastructure and real estate. It, for instance, acquired an equity interest in Nexus Hospitals, Australia’s second-largest day hospital platform.
INTEGRITY LIFE HIRES PRODUCT GM FROM METLIFE
Life insurer Integrity Life has appointed Gary Bailison to the position of general manager of product and proposition. He is based in Sydney.
Bailison takes up the newly created role after six years at MetLife where he was chief transformation officer. He had first joined as head of individual insurance.
Before that, he was employed at CommInsure as executive manager for design and development and head of retail product and pricing.
Integrity Life and MetLife have been contacted for more information and comment on his possible replacements and job responsibilities.
BLACKROCK'S CHINA BOND FUND MANAGER TO EXIT
China bonds fund manager Artur Piasecki will be leaving BlackRock by the end of March 2022 due to personal circumstances, a spokesperson has confirmed.
His responsibilities will be undertaken by the existing team, the spokesperson said, while declining to provide details on whether a replacement will be hired. Piasecki has worked at BlackRock for more than 12 years.
Artur Piasecki is the lead portfolio manager for the BGF Asian High Yield Bond Fund and co-portfolio manager for the BGF China Bond Fund alongside Eric Liu, Tan Suanjin and Wong Yii Hui.
Prior to joining BlackRock in 2009, Piasecki was at R3 Capital Partners responsible for the management of Asian credit and equity-linked portfolios.
M&G EXPANDS ASIAN DISTRIBUTION TEAM
M&G Investments on Thursday (October 28) announced that Alfred Foo has joined as director of intermediary channels, Singapore. He started in the newly created role on Monday and is based in M&G’s Singapore office. He reports to Berny Lin, head of distribution, Asia ex-Japan.
Foo will be responsible for developing, enhancing, and retaining client relationships, focusing on private banking channels, family offices and external asset managers in Singapore. He was most recently at abrdn where he was director of wholesale since 2018.
The intermediary channels team also recently appointed Roy Ko as client relationship manager in the Hong Kong office, reporting to Joseph Wong, head of intermediary channels, Hong Kong. Ko was most recently at Value Partners in Hong Kong where he held roles in the private banking distribution team.
UBP STRENGTHENS THEMATIC EQUITY TEAM IN ASIA
Swiss private bank Union Bancaire Privée (UBP) announced the appointment of two senior sectorial analysts covering Asia Technology and Healthcare on Monday (October 25).
Vey-Sern Ling joined UBP in Singapore as senior equity advisor, Asia technology. Prior to joining UBP, Ling was a senior analyst with Bloomberg Intelligence covering the Asia internet sector. He previously held senior positions with BNP Paribas and UBS.
Nicolas Wang joined UBP in Hong Kong as senior equity advisor, Asia healthcare. Before joining UBP, Wang was a managing director at Haitong International Research, where he spent over seven years covering the healthcare and consumer sectors across Asia. He also held senior positions at Industrial Securities Hong Kong, Daiwa Capital Markets and Macquarie Capital Securities.
Ling joined in July 2021 and Wang joined in October 2021. Both of them report locally to Edouard Hoepffner, head of investment services Asia, and globally to Nicolas Laroche, global head of advisory investment, according to a spokesperson. Both roles are newly created.
STANDARD CHARTERED HIRES NEW HEAD OF ASEAN PRIVATE BANKING
Standard Chartered has named Vinay Gandhi as its new regional head of Asean and global head of global South Asian community for its private banking segment.
Gandhi will join the bank in the first quarter of 2022 and will be based in Singapore. He will report to Raymond Ang, global head of affluent coverage, the bank said in a statement on Monday (October 25).
Most recently, Gandhi was Safra Sarasin’s Singapore CEO. Prior to that, he was the head of ultra-high net worth Asia as well as covering Southeast Asia, international markets and external asset managers when he joined in 2017.
Prior to that, Gandhi was with UBS Wealth Management as regional market manager for Southeast Asia, where he led a large team of relationship managers servicing high net worth and ultra-high net worth clients in Thailand, Malaysia and the Philippines. He also looked after UBS’ international clients and financial intermediaries businesses.
Gandhi succeeds Cedric Lizin who left the bank in October to pursue other opportunities. Lizin joined StanChart in December 2019 from UBS Wealth Management.
PICTET WEALTH MANAGEMENT ASIA CHAIR TO RETIRE
Claude Haberer, an equity partner of Pictet Group and chairman of Pictet Wealth Management Asia, will join Bangkok Bank as an advisor to the president of the bank from January 2022, after he retires from Pictet.
The appointment came as Bangkok Bank and Geneva-based global wealth and asset manager Pictet Group on Thursday announced their strategic alliance to enhance wealth management services for Bangkok Bank’s wealth clients in Thailand.
Haberer began his Pictet career in 2011 as CEO for Pictet Wealth Management Asia, and became chairman in October 2019.
He will retire from Pictet by end of the year. The role will not be replaced, the firm told AsianInvestor.
DEUTSCHE PRIVATE BANK HIRES HSBC TSE YI-MUN AS GROUP NORTH ASIA HEAD
Tse Yi-Mun joined Deutsche Bank Wealth Management (DBWM) as a managing director and group head for North Asia. Based in Singapore, Tse reports to Kanas Chan, head of wealth management for North Asia.
Tse joined from HSBC where she was the market head for Hong Kong. She began her career at DBS and ABN AMRO where she was a relationship manager and desk head covering the Greater China region.
DBWM did not reply to emailed questions on his departure and HSBC did not reply to emailed questions on his replacement.