Weekly roundup of people news, Sep 19
CIC sees senior management changes
Lawrence Lau has retired as chairman of CIC International (HK), a unit of China’s sovereign wealth fund that manages global credit products and China-related equity investments.
Li Keping has taken over the role in addition to his positions as vice chairman and president of China Investment Corporation in Beijing. A spokeswoman declined to comment on whether this arrangement was temporary.
Li became vice chairman and president in February, replacing Gao Xiqing.
Before joining CIC, Lau served as a non-official member of the Executive Council of Hong Kong from 2009 to 2012.
Meanwhile, Li Xiaopeng, formerly chairman of the board of supervisors, left CIC last month to join China Merchants Holdings as vice chairman.
He has been replaced by Guo Haoda. Prior to this appointment, Guo worked from January 2009 at Agricultural Bank of China, most recently as executive vice president.
CIC managed $652.7 billion in assets as of the end of last year.
Malaysia’s KWAP names CIO
Kumpulan Wang Persaraan (KWAP), Malaysia’s second biggest pension fund, has named Nik Amlizan Mohamed as chief investment officer, effective September 9.
She joined KWAP, which runs retirement money for federal workers, in 2007 as head of equity and subsequently became senior director for equity in February. Her remit is to formulate the fund’s investment strategies across all asset classes.
She replaces Ahmad Norhisham Hassan who died this February after collapsing in his office, according to the fund.
He was appointed to the role in April last year.
Before joining KWAP, Nik Amlizan was head of equity at RHB Asset Management, and senior portfolio manager and head of investment research at Mayban Investment Management.
Nozaimi Bin Mohd Nasir, vice president of equity, is filling in for Nik Amlizan. A spokeswoman declined to comment on whether this arrangement was temporary.
KWAP manages around $32 billion in assets as of the end of 2013.
PineBridge Japan names deputy president
US-based PineBridge Investments has appointed Kikuo Shirose to the newly created role of deputy president and board director for Japan, effective October 1. He will be tasked with leading and developing the institutional business.
Based in Tokyo, Shirose will report to Japan CEO Kazuya Sugiura and Asia CEO Rajeev Mittal.
He worked from March 2010 to August this year at US firm Fortress Investment Group, where he was Japan head of capital formation and investor relations. He also built and led the Japan institutional sales and client service team.
Prior to that, he spent three years at Japan’s Nikko Asset Management as head of institutional business. He has also worked at UBS Global Asset Management. He started his career at the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi Group.
PineBridge manages some $73.8 billion worldwide as of June 30.
RBC Wealth Management adds Greater China heads
RBC Wealth Management has appointed two Greater China heads based in Hong Kong. They are Lorraine Lam and Yi-An Chen. It is understood Lam will cover China and Chen Taiwan.
The firm said the roles have been newly created.
Chen arrived in early August, and Lam in early June. They join Iggy Chong, who also joined RBC WM as Greater China head in August, from UK private bank Coutts, as reported. It is understood he will cover Hong Kong.
The trio reports to Michael Yong-Haron, head of north Asia.
Lam joins from Credit Suisse, where she most recently covered China as a vice president. Credit Suisse declined to comment on whether she’d been replaced.
Chen joins from ANZ Hong Kong, where she was Greater China market head. The Australian bank said it would announce a successor shortly.
RBC WM had C$700 billion ($636 billion) of assets under administration, and C$442 billion of assets under management as of July 31.
BNP Paribas boosts securities services team
BNP Paribas Securities Services has appointed Stephanie Marelle as head of Hong Kong, effective July 1, and David Raccat in the newly created role of Asia-Pacific head of market and financing services based in Singapore, effective September 1.
Marelle succeeds Bruno Campenon, who has moved to New York as head of clearing and custody services/corporate trust services for the Americas.
Marelle is now responsible for client relationships and service delivery for Hong Kong clients in addition to her role as Asia-Pacific head of clearing and custody services/corporate trust services.
Raccat’s position is an expansion of his previous role as head of global markets. He joined the business in 1996 and was appointed head of global markets, covering foreign exchange, short-term interest rates, equity lending and agency lending, in 2011.
Marelle joined JP Morgan’s clearing and custody business in 1993, before it was acquired by BNP Paribas in 1995. Since then she has held roles in operations, sales and relationship management and corporate trust services across Paris, London, Frankfurt and Hong Kong.
BNP Paribas Securities Services has $9.5 trillion in assets under custody as of June 30.
Eastspring expands marketing team
Eastspring Investments, the asset management arm of insurer Prudential Corporation Asia, hired Christian Fleischer as head of marketing in July.
Based in Singapore, he takes on a role that Eastspring said has been expanded since the previous incumbent, Alvin Chiu, left in February. He reports to Michele Bang, deputy chief executive of Eastspring.
Fleischer had worked from January 2013 to July this year as head of marketing for BlackRock in Germany. Before that he was director of Europe, the Middle East and Africa retail marketing for the US firm from October 2012 to December 2013.
Prior to that he worked as head of marketing for institutional, commercial and private banking at ANZ in Singapore.
Eastspring also appointed Tio Yang Phen in July in the newly created role of director of investment marketing, reporting to Fleischer. She joins from UK fund house Aviva Investors, where she was head of product management and strategy.
Eastspring managed assets of $115 billion as of June 30.
Strategic Insight hires global research head
Mutual funds industry research firm Strategic Insight (SI) has appointed Shiv Taneja as senior managing director for global research, effective September 15. The position is a newly created one based in London.
He will report to Avi Nachmany, SI’s co-founder and director of research and will lead the expansion of the firm's business intelligence, research and advisory services for the mutual funds industry.
Taneja joined from Cerulli Associates, which he joined in September 2000 and where he was managing director of international research.
A Cerulli spokeswoman declined to comment on whether he would be replaced, saying it is company policy not to comment on personnel changes.
Taneja had built the company’s non-US research business.
SI’s parent company, Asset International, is a provider of information and technology to pension funds, asset managers, financial advisers, banking service providers and other financial institutions.
Taneja is tasked with integrating SI’s research across its hubs in the US, Toronto, London, Melbourne and Hong Kong.
Other people news reported by AsianInvestor this week:
HKMA seeking new head of direct investment
OMGI hires Asian equity trio from BlackRock