Weekly roundup of people news, Sept 8
AUSTRALIAN RETIREMENT TRUST BEGINS SEARCH FOR NEXT CEO
Australian Retirement Trust (ART) is on the lookout for a new chief executive as current CEO Bernard Reilly plans to leave in February 2024.
Reilly played a crucial role in overseeing the merger that formed ART and growing the fund to A$260 billion (US$166 billion).
Egon Zehnder, a consultancy and executive search firm, has been appointed to find Reilly's replacement.
Reilly became CEO of Sunsuper in October 2019 and later spearheaded the merger with QSuper, resulting in the creation of ART in February 2022.
Reilly's departure will coincide with ART's second anniversary.
MAS NAMES NEXT MANAGING DIRECTOR
Chia Der Juin was appointed the managing director of Monetary Authority of Singapore from January 1, 2024 to May 31, 2026.
He will be managing director designate from November 1, 2023, to December 31, 2023.
Chia takes over from Ravi Menon, who will retire from the Singapore Public Service and step down as managing director of MAS on December 31.
Chia is currently permanent secretary (development) at the Ministry of Manpower and previously spent 18 years at MAS, where he had leadership roles across major functions, including monetary policy implementation, reserve management, banking supervision, prudential policy and macroeconomic surveillance.
CBUS APPOINTS DEPUTY CIO AND COO
Cbus, the A$85 billion (US$54.5 billion) Australian super fund, has named a deputy chief investment officer and a chief operating officer along with other key appointments.
Alexandra Campbell. was named the new deputy chief investment officer and head of private markets.
Campbell has been with Cbus for three years and has led infrastructure and private market teams. She will report to chief investment officer Brett Chatfield, who previously held the deputy role.
Nancy Day has taken on the role of chief operating officer, where she will oversee investment enablement, finance, and technology. Day has been the chief operating officer of investments for the past five years and has been instrumental in leading the investment enablement team and the internalisation of investments.
Alexandra West was appointed chief strategy officer, expanding her current portfolio as chief strategy officer of investments.
West will be responsible for enterprise strategy and performance, enterprise positioning, and enterprise advocacy, as well as public affairs.
Natalie Hannemann will serve as chief transformation officer, focusing on driving efficiency across the organisation. Hannemann has been with Cbus for three years and previously worked as the head of service.
Justine Hartman was named chief people officer.
Hartman has held people and culture leadership roles at Cbus for nine years and was acting group executive of people and culture.
LGIM OPENS SINGAPORE OFFICE WITH NEW APPOINTMENTS
Legal & General Investment Management (LGIM) has opened a Singapore office, its third in the region after Hong Kong and Tokyo.
The Singapore office will be led by Natasha Mora, managing director, Asia ex-Japan, who has held senior roles across L&G Group and LGIM since she joined the firm in 2006.
Gerald Koh was also appointed head of wholesale Asia (ex-Japan) on August 1, which was reported by AsianInvestor earlier.
Koh will lead the development of LGIM’s wholesale business across Asia and be responsible for client acquisition and support across private banks, wealth managers and other intermediaries.
Koh reports to Mora.
Heston Goh was appointed sales director for Southeast Asia institutions on September 1. He will bulk up the firm’s coverage of institutional asset owners in the region.
He reports to Jackson Loi, head of institutional sales for Asia ex-Japan.
Goh joins from Eastspring Investments (Singapore), where he was head of institutional sales and responsible for Singapore and Southeast Asia.
A spokesperson for Eastspring said the company has identified a candidate to replace Goh, who will start with the company soon.
Singapore will also be home to LGIM’s newly established Asia ex-Japan investment stewardship team, which will spearhead the firm’s investment engagement activities and ESG priorities across the region, led by Trista Chen.
Prior to joining LGIM, Chen worked for global sustainability consultancy firm, ERM. Chen reports to Michael Marks, head of responsible investment integration.
NORTHERN TRUST NAMES HK HEAD OF ASSET SERVICING
Northern Trust appointed Aisling Keane as head of Asset Servicing, Hong Kong, effective September 4.
Keane will lead Northern Trust’s asset servicing business in Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan.
Keane was head of alternative investment solutions, Asia Pacific, at State Street until 2021.
AsianInvestor was unable to ascertain what Keane was doing between 2021 and the new role.
She was also previously head of hedge fund services, APAC, at BNP Paribas Securities Services and a director at Credit Suisse.
Keane reports to Angelo Calvitto, head of Asia Pacific.
Northern Trust has a network of offices across Asia Pacific in Beijing, Bengaluru, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur, Manila, Melbourne, Pune, Singapore, Sydney and Tokyo.
HSBC has announced that it will appoint Harpreet Bindra as chief executive officer of HSBC Life (Singapore).
His appointment is subject to regulatory approvals.
HSBC Life Singapore is the group’s insurance business in Singapore.
It was created through the integration of the businesses of AXA Insurance (AXA Singapore) and HSBC Insurance (Singapore) in February 2023 via a scheme of transfer, following HSBC’s acquisition of AXA Singapore in February 2022.
Bindra will report to Greg Hingston, CEO, HSBC Global Insurance and Partnerships, and to Ashmita Acharya, head of wealth and personal banking, Singapore.
He will succeed Ho Lee Yen, who has decided to spend more time with her family, having successfully completed the integration of the businesses of AXA Singapore and HSBC Insurance.
Bindra was most recently global head of strategy and business development for HSBC Global Insurance and Partnerships, based in Hong Kong.
He will continue to be part of the HSBC Life global executive committee and will join the HSBC wealth and personal banking Singapore executive committee.
Bindra joined HSBC in 2018.
Prior to HSBC, Harpreet held a number of leadership roles in Prudential Financial, Daiwa Securities and ING Group in Singapore, Hong Kong, India and the Netherlands.
STARR INSURANCE NAMES SINGAPORE CEO
Starr Insurance appointed Sean Chen as chief executive of Starr International Insurance (Singapore), effective August 28.
Chen was most recently Starr’s regional manager for Korea, Taiwan and Japan for property, energy and construction. He was previously also senior property underwriter in Starr’s Hong Kong office.
Chen succeeds Phil Finley as Singapore CEO. Finley recently moved to Thailand as CEO of Starr International Insurance (Thailand) Public Company Ltd. and continues to lead Starr’s Asia operations as president of Asia Pacific.
Starr did not respond to an AsianInvestor query on who replaces Chen in his previous role.
IFM Investors, a global investment manager owned by Australian pension funds, announced the appointment of Maria Nazarova-Doyle as its new head of sustainable investment, effective September 4.
She will lead IFM's global sustainable investment team, focusing on implementing and measuring sustainability initiatives across the company's global portfolio.
Reporting to IFM's chief strategy officer Luba Nikulina, Nazarova-Doyle will be based in London.
Nazarova-Doyle was previously head of responsible investments and stewardship at Scottish Widows.
IFM Investors manages funds invested in critical assets like toll roads, airports, seaports, and renewable energy producers to generate long-term returns for investors and benefit communities worldwide.
Australian Retirement Trust (ART) has hired Tim Unger, former lead of sustainable investments at Willis Towers Watson (WTW), as a senior portfolio manager within its sustainable investments team.
This move comes as ART expands its sustainable investments team by eight, aiming to strengthen its focus on sustainable investing across its A$260 billion ($166 billion) portfolio.
He reports to Nicole Bradford, head of sustainable investments at ART.
Unger, a high-profile figure, served at WTW since 2001 and became Australia's head of sustainable investments in 2021.
WTW did not respond to AsianInvestor's request for comment on Unger's replacement.
NGS SUPER EXPANDS LEADERSHIP TEAM
NGS Super announced the appointment of three experienced professionals to support its expansion.
The new appointments include Carson McNamara as head of strategic partnerships, Leanne Nunn as senior strategic partnership manager, and Sophie Harris as client service manager.
McNamara, with over 20 years of financial services experience, will lead the newly created team of strategic partnership managers in Melbourne.
His role involves driving membership and funds under management growth through the acquisition of employer default new arrangements.
McNamara has worked predominantly in the superannuation and financial advice sectors, including at NAB and MLC.
Nunn, based in Perth, will focus on partnership development in Western Australia and provide educational sessions for members.
She was most recently relationship manager at Catholic Super and has also worked with HostPlus, NAB and AMP.
Meanwhile Harris, a superannuation specialist based in Melbourne, will support members, schools, and staff on various aspects of superannuation, leveraging her eight years of experience in the sector.
JLL APPOINTS INDONESIA HEAD
Reat estate advisory and management firm JLL has appointed Farazia Basarah as Indonesia country head.
She will succeed James Allan, who was recently named CEO for JLL Middle East & Africa and has relocated to Dubai.
Basarah will be responsible for JLL’s operations in Indonesia, with oversight for the markets advisory and capital markets business lines.
Based in Jakarta, she reports to Chris Fossick, JLL’s CEO of Southeast Asia.
Basarah has been with the firm for 12 years, with a focus on logistics, industrial, and data centre businesses in Indonesia.
COHEN & STEERS NAMES APAC WEALTH HEAD
Investment management firm Cohen & Steers has appointed Liyen Wee as vice president and head of wealth in Asia Pacific, effective September 1.
In this newly created role, Wee will be responsible for establishing and managing relationships with financial intermediaries in the Asia Pacific Ex-Japan region.
She is based in Singapore in the newly opened office for wealth coverage in Asia and reports to David Conway, head of international wholesale distribution.
Wee was most recently director of the financial intermediaries group at Lazard Asset Management where she led the Southeast Asia financial intermediaries and wholesale distribution business.
Lazard did not respond to AsianInvestor’s enquiries about when Wee left the firm and who had taken over her role.
Wee has previously worked with Amundi Asset Management, Aberdeen and OCBC Asset Management.
360 ONE LAUNCHES GLOBAL ALTS PLATFORM, NAMES CEO
360 ONE, earlier known as IIFL Wealth & Asset Management, a leading wealth and alternatives-focused asset management group based in India, has hired former Bank of Singapore executives to launch its global platform, 360 ONE Global.
360 ONE Global will kickstart business by developing a product and service proposition for offshore wealth and investment advisory to complement the firm’s onshore advisory.
The group has named Vikram Malhotra as co-founder and CEO of 360 ONE Global. He was previously global market head for global South Asia and Middle East at Bank of Singapore.
The 360 ONE Global leadership team, led by Malhotra, comprises Arunabh Banerjee and Pankaj Nagrath, who were also previously with Bank of Singapore. Malhotra and Banerjee will be based in Singapore, while Nagrath will be based in Dubai.
360 ONE is among the first Indian wealth managers to make an entry in the offshore wealth management business. It manages assets totalling about 3,83,000 crores Indian rupees (approximately $46.5 billion).
GOLUB CAPITAL NAMES KOREA MD
Credit and lending asset management firm Golub Capital has appointed Sean Sunghoon Chung managing director in Korea, effective September 5
For this newly created position, Chung will be based in the Golub's Seoul office.
The Korea-focused team also includes the New York-based Anthony Yum, managing director in the business development group, and BoMee Chu, managing director and co-head of the product specialist team.
Chung was most recently managing partner at OSR Holdings, which did not respond to AsianInvestor’s enquiries about when he left and who took over his role.
Chung has also previously worked with Shinhan Investment.