Weekly roundup of people news, Oct 30
GAM LOSES ASIA HEAD OF INTERMEDIARY SALES
Two members of Swiss fund manager Gam’s Hong Kong sales team are moving on: the Asia ex-Japan head of intermediary sales, Francis Wong, and associate client director Kristy Wong.
The latter is set to join Schroders’ private bank sales team (see story below), while AsianInvestor could not ascertain the former’s next destination. Both are understood to have resigned and will leave Gam in November, and the firm is interviewing for replacements.
Kristy had joined the company in June 2011, while Francis has been there since July 2013. Before that he worked at Singapore-based Eastspring Investments and MFS Investment Management of the US.
SCHRODERS HIRES IN PRIVATE BANK SALES
Schroders has hired Kristy Wong as Hong Kong-based business development manager for private bank distribution. It is understood she will replace Timothy Chu, who left the British fund house in August. AsianInvestor could not ascertain his next destination.
Schroders declined to comment on the appointment, apart from to say it was in the process of filling a role in Hong Kong covering global private bank relationships.
Wong will join from Swiss rival Gam, where she is a client associate director in Hong Kong and she will officially leave the post in November.
Wong’s appointment follows Schroders’ hire of Chuck Ng in July as Asia head of global private bank distribution. His duties were previously looked after by Amy Cho, Hong Kong chief executive and Asia Pacific head of intermediary sales, to whom Ng now reports, a spokesman told AsianInvestor.
Ng's most recent role in the investment industry was managing director responsible for wholesale distribution in Singapore and private banking coverage for Asia at Canadian insurer Manulife. He left that post in September last year.
Before that Ng was Singapore head of Hong Kong-based fund house Value Partners and has also worked for Credit Suisse and Citi.
SOMERSET CAPITAL ADDS CHINA DUO FROM DYMON TO LAUNCH NEW FUND
London-based Somerset Capital Management has appointed Chen Min as China portfolio manager and Lilian Tai as senior China analyst, with both roles based in Singapore and effective November 1.
Chen and Tai join from alternative investment manager Dymon Asia, which did not respond to emailed queries. They bring a dedicated China strategy with them, a Somerset spokesman told AsianInvestor.
Somerset has doubled the size of its dedicated China investment team to four with the new hires, who join senior analysts David Heng and Jovan Yeow, the spokesman said. Heng will become assistant portfolio manager to Chen on the China fund.
Somerset also has seven other individuals with experience investing in China.
Tai will report to Chen, who will in turn report to London-based chief executive Dominic Johnson.
Before joining Dymon in 2018, Chen was head of China at fund manager RWC Partners, managing director at Everest Partners and chief representative of Arisaig Partners in Shanghai.
The firm expects to launch a China vehicle for UK and European investors next year, a spokesman told AsianInvestor, but said no details were available yet.
RBC WEALTH MANAGEMENT HIRES TWO FIXED INCOME EXPERTS
RBC Wealth Management, part of the Royal Bank of Canada, has hired two Singapore-based fixed income specialists.
In an announcement on October 29, the company said Shawn Sim had re-joined in its investment solutions and products team as head of fixed income advisory on August 17, while it hired Kennard Ling as a fixed income specialist on July 13.
The head of fixed income is a new role while Ling has replaced Rachel Lim, who left the firm on May 28, a spokeswoman told AsianInvestor.
Ling reports directly to Sim while Sim reports Tam Chun-Him, the head of RBC Wealth Management’s fixed income and ultra-high-net-worth solutions groups in the region.
Sim has re-joined RBC from HSBC Private Bank, where he was a fixed income adviser. He was formerly a member of RBC WM’s fixed income team between 2014 and 2018. Prior to joining RBC, Ling was a corporate sales analyst for foreign exchange and rates at Standard Chartered Bank.
HSBC Private Bank and Standard Charted did not immediately respond to emailed questions.
HSBC PB RAIDS CITI FOR APAC CREDIT ADVISORY HEAD
HSBC Private Banking has hired Citi Private Bank's head of South Asia, Jyrki Rauhio, as Hong Kong-based head of credit advisory for Asia Pacific, effective November 2.
He will report to Tan Siew Meng, Asia Pacific head of HSBC Private Banking, and Daniel Mentha, global head of credit advisory and global private banking, based in Switzerland.
Rauhio replaces Desiree Lam, who will become programme director for Asia wealth and working with Tan to drive HSBC’s Asia wealth strategy. HSBC PB declined to elaborate further on Lam's new role.
Rauhio left Citi in March and he will not be replaced as Citi has opted to streamline its business. All the South Asia global market managers now report to Steven Lo, Hong Kong-based Asia Pacific chief executive of Citi Private Bank.
ESR ADDS INVESTMENT MANAGER IN SHANGHAI
ESR, a Hong Kong-based logistics real estate developer and investor, hired Edison Li in Shanghai in October as an investment manager, according to his LinkedIn profile.
Li previously spent a year as an asset management associate with Mosser Capital in California and also worked at CLK Properties in New York.
A spokeswoman confimed this hiring but declined to provide more details on Li's appointment.
The hire follows several senior personnel changes in July.
Josh Daitch, who joined ESR in 2018 as senior managing director, has been promoted to head of fund management and capital, a newly created role to further institutionalise the firm, the spokeswoman told AsianInvestor.
In addition, Charles de Portes, ESR’s group president, will leave his role on January 1 to pursue philanthropic endeavours, according to a statement by the firm. He will then become non-executive director and chairman emeritus of ESR’s capital committee. The spokeswoman said ESR was not planning to fill the group president role after de Portes leaves.
OMFIF NAMES EX-GIC EXEC AS NEW APAC HEAD
The Official Monetary and Financial Institutions Forum (Omfif), a London-based think tank for central banking, economic policy and public investment, has appointed a new head of Asia Pacific.
Tamara Singh will start in the Singapore-based role on November 2 and replace Adam Cotter, who will step down at the end of this year after seven years with Omfif, including four in Asia.
Singh has some 15 years of experience in international financial organisations in the UK, Hong Kong and Singapore, most recently at Singapore’s GIC. She had been business manager in the sovereign wealth fund’s portfolio execution group until October last year.
Singh has also been responsible for the operations of the financial markets and treasury business in Asia at Australian bank Westpac.
Immediately before joining Omfif, she had been working on launching a due diligence solution aimed at reducing the costs of compliance in financial services, according to her LinkedIn page.
TMF NAMES FUND SERVICES HEAD FOR CHINA, TAIWAN
Dutch professional services firm TMF Group has named Sabrina Li as Shanghai-based head of fund services for China and Taiwan, effective October 26. The newly created role aims to support the company's investment into growing its fund services business in Asia.
Li reports to Thun Lee, TMF's head of China and Taiwan, who is based in Shanghai and she will be part of the firm's global funds practice led by Ireland-based Andrew O’Shea.
Before joining TMF Li was State Street's China head of hedge fund accounting based in Hangzhou. She left the US firm earlier this month, a spokeswoman told AsianInvestor. State Street has made an internal appointment to take over her responsibilities.
Li has also worked at firms including Citco Fund Services, HSBC, Sycamore investment and Homaer Financial.
ALVAREZ & MARSAL HIRES SENIOR DUO IN ASIA
Restructuring firm Alvarez & Marsal has appointed Joshua Taylor and Steffi Thio as managing director and senior director in the restructuring and turnaround practice team, respectively. Both are based in Singapore.
Before joining A&M, Taylor was senior managing director of FTI Consulting in Singapore, where he advised clients on insolvency and restructuring.
Thio was formerly head of credit at Serai, a Hong Kong-based apparel industry networking platform platform.
Both FTI Consulting and Serai declined to comment on the departures.
Other people news reported by AsianInvestor in the past week: