Weekly roundup of people news, Dec 15
SUN LIFE NAMES ASIA PRESIDENT
Sun Life Financial named its chief financial officer (CFO) Manjit Singh as the new president of Sun Life Asia, effective March 18, 2024. He will relocate to Hong Kong from Toronto.
Singh 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.
In the new role, Singh will report to Kevin Strain, president and chief executive officer of Sun Life Financial.
A search to find Singh’s successor as CFO is underway, the firm announced on December 11.
Singh succeeds Ingrid Johnson, who has taken on the newly created role of vice chair, strategic partnerships for Sun Life globally.
With more than 25 years of finance, strategy, risk and treasury experience, Singh joined Sun Life as executive vice president and CFO in 2021. He is currently a board member of Trillium Health Partners and formerly the president of ASCEND Canada.
Before joining Sun Life, he spent nearly 20 years with Canada’s TD Bank until 2021.
AUSTRALIAN RETIREMENT TRUST NAMES NEW CEO
The Australian Retirement Trust (ART) has announced that David Anderson will succeed Bernard Reilly as the chief executive in March 2024.
Anderson, who has been serving as Mercer's global chief commercial officer (CCO) since 2021, will take over at the super fund after 25 years at Mercer.
Prior to his role as Mercer’s global CCO he held other senior global roles within the firm that saw him work across Latin America, the Middle East, Africa, and the US.
At the beginning of his tenure with Mercer, Anderson held several roles in Australia before becoming leader of the financial services business for Asia Pacific and eventually chief executive of Australia and New Zealand, a role he held for five years.
Reilly will retire in the new year, marking two years since the merger that formed ART. The transition will be coordinated between Anderson and Reilly, with Reilly leaving in February.
NIPPON LIFE REP REELECTED AS ASIA-BASED PRI BOARD MEMBER
Takeshi Kimura, special adviser to the board at Nippon Life Insurance, has been reappointed as the insurer's representative as board director at the United Nations-supported Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI)
His current term of appointment expires at the end of 2023, and a new three-year term will commence from January 2024.
The PRI is an international initiative seeking to drive the development of best practices in responsible investments. PRI has more than 5,300 signatories among institutional investors worldwide, and the combined assets under management of these signatories exceeds $120 trillion. Nippon Life signed the PRI in March 2017.
In July 2021, Takeshi Kimura became the first PRI Board member to be appointed from the insurance industry and has now been re-appointed through the PRI Board annual election by global signatories as the only Asia-based member of the Board.
Going forward, he will be contributing to various PRI activities such as the formulation of the next Strategic Plan and Progression Pathways framework which aims to support the progression of responsible investment for signatories.
Nippon Life was the sole lead sponsor for the annual conference PRI in Person 2023, held in Tokyo in October 2023.
ALSO READ: Nippon Life: Managing risk not enough to fulfil ESG responsibility
CHINA PACIFIC INSURANCE GROUP ANNOUNCES NEW LEADERS
Shanghai-headquartered China Pacific Insurance (Group) (CPIC) appointed Fu Fan as the new chairman, succeeding Kong Qingwei, who will retire soon, the life insurance company announced on December 12.
Meanwhile, Zhao Yonggang will succeed Fu as the new president, returning to CPIC from his stint with Haitong Securities.
Fu joined China Pacific as president in 2019. He’s also the director of CPIC Fund Management. Previously, he served in leadership roles with Shanghai Investment Corporation, China International Fund Management, and Shanghai International Trust.
Zhao spent most of his career with CPIC, starting with a junior role in its Chongqing branch in 1995. Before moving to Haitong Securities as deputy Party secretary in 2021 amid a state-owned institutions leadership rotation, Zhao was the vice president of CPIC, a role he took on in 2018.
NPS APPOINTS NEW REAL ESTATE HEAD
Korea’s National Pension Service (NPS) appointed Jun Ahn (Ahn Jun-sang) as its real estate investment head on December 13, sources familiar with the matter said on December 14 according to Korea Economic Daily.
The official announcement of the appointment will be made on December 18, according to sources. NPS did not respond to AsianInvestor’s enquiries at the time of press.
Ahn served as vice chief executive of Seoul-based real estate and infrastructure investment firm Yido for two years. He also worked for Samsung Securities in Seoul from 2018 to 2020, where he served as alternative investment head.
Prior to this, he spent six years at Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) Capital Markets from 2012 and five years at Wells Fargo Securities from 2007. Ahn also served as a director at the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) for four years from 2003.
Oh Eun-jeong, who had led NPS’ real estate division since November 2021, has recently been transferred to the pension fund’s New York office head as Yoon Hye-young resigned as the US office’s acting chief in October, sources said.
SUN LIFE SINGAPORE APPOINTS NEW CEO
Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada Singapore Branch (Sun Life Singapore) has appointed Christopher Albrecht as chief executive officer, effective 1 January 2024.
Based in Singapore, Albrecht will be responsible for leading the strategic and operational aspects of Sun Life Singapore business, reporting to Karim Gilani, president, Greater China, Singapore and international high net worth, Sun Life Financial.
Albrecht was most recently partner at private wealth solutions firm 1291 Group since 2018. Before this, he held roles at Swiss Life, Old Mutual International and HSBC in Hong Kong and Singapore since 2005.
SUN HUNG KAI & CO APPOINTS DEPUTY CEO
Sun Hung Kai & Co appointed Tony Edwards as deputy chief executive officer in December, overseeing the company development and providing guidance and support to the funds management function.
Based in Hong Kong, Edwards will report to Sun Hung Kai & Co chairman Lee Seng Huang. Edwards replaces Simon Chow, who retired earlier this year, the firm told AsianInvestor.
Edwards started his career in the 1990s in Asian investment banking. From 2000 onwards, he has been managing investment management businesses at AllianceBernstein, Neuberger Berman, Robeco and Arisaig Partners.
He was the chief operating officer of Arisaig Partners from 2019 to 2022 in London, and the chief executive officer of Robeco Asia-Pacific in Hong Kong from 2011 to 2016.
CAMPELL LUTYENS HIRES KOREA MD FROM KIC
Campbell Lutyens appointed Kim Jintae managing director of its Seoul office, with a focus on relationships with institutional investors across Korea.
Prior to joining Campbell Lutyens, Kim worked a decade at Korea Investment Corporation (KIC) where he most recently served as head of the private equity group. Kim left KIC in September 2023 and Kim Jongho, also division head of alternative investment, has been taking over the private equity head’s responsibilities, a KIC spokesperson told AsianInvestor.
Kim has held other roles at KIC including head of absolute returns group, head of CEO’s office and oversight of the European public equity portfolio from its London office.
Before joining KIC, Kim held roles at Midas Asset Management and Goldman Sachs Asset Management in Seoul.
JP MORGAN AM APPOINTS NEWS SINGAPORE, SEA CEO
JP Morgan Asset Management (JPMAM) appointed Ayaz Ebrahim as Singapore and South East Asia (SEA) chief executive officer, subject to regulatory approval. He is succeeding Sherene Ban, who will be relocating to Europe and becoming head of Continental Europe institutional.
Ebrahim joins his new role with a background as portfolio manager and co-head of the regional team in Asia Pacific within emerging markets and Asia Pacific (EMAP) equities. He will retain his investment responsibilities within the EMAP team.
Based in Singapore, Ebrahim will report to both Dan Watkins, CEO of Asia Pacific, and Anuj Arora, head of EMAP Equities team, JPMAM.
Prior to joining JPMAM in 2015, he held roles at Amundi, HSBC and Deutsche Bank.
IFM INVESTORS NAMES CO-HEADS OF AUSTRALIAN DIVERSIFIED CREDIT
IFM Investors recently restructured its Australian diversified credit division, promoting Lillian Nunez and Hiran Wanigasekera to co-lead the branch.
The pair takes over from Bruce Potts, who now oversees APAC diversified credit and debt investments.
Nunez previously served as the director of debt investments, overseeing substantial credit funds and strategy, and leading the team in charge of credit research, investment evaluations, and portfolio management assistance.
Wanigasekera had a similar position with the added responsibility of managing daily debt portfolio operations.
Both Nunez and Wanigasekera have been working in close collaboration with Potts.
Potts, a veteran at IFM since 2009, is set to supervise the management of IFM's funds and portfolios as a senior executive portfolio manager.
JAMES LIM HEADS WARBURG PINCUS JV IN KOREAN LOGISITICS
James Lim has entered a new role as co-founder and chief executive officer at Qube Industrial, a Korea-focused logistics warehouse developer, operator and investment manager, he announced on LinkedIn.
Qube is a joint venture between global private equity firm Warburg Pincus and MQ Group, a logistics warehouse developer and operator in South Korea. As co-founder and CEO of Qube, Lim is responsible for the firm's overall operations while strategically growing the business and market position, Lim writes on Linkedin.
Warburg Pincus did not respond to AsianInvestor’s enquiries regarding the founding of Qube and the hire of Lim at the time of press.
Prior to co-founding Qube, Lim was managing director at Los Angeles-headquartered Oaktree Capital Management in Hong Kong. According to Lim’s LinkedIn, he left the firm in 2022. Oaktree declined to respond to AsianInvestor’s enquiries about Lim’s departure and successor.
Prior to joining Oaktree in 2019, Lim held roles at CapitaLand, HSBC, Morgan Stanley, BNP Paribas, ANZ and Lehman Brothers.
NEUBERGER BERMAN RECRUITS FROM KTCU
Kim (Rok) Gyengrok has joined investment management firm Neuberger Berman as senior vice president, joining from Korea Teachers’ Credit Union (KTCU).
Since joining KTCU in 2010, Kim has held various roles at the public asset owner, most recently real estate portfolio manager up until December 2023, according to his LinkedIn profile. He has also previously worked in private equity and infrastructure teams at KTCU.
Neuberger Berman did not respond to AsianInvestor’s enquiries at the time of press regarding Kim’s specific role as senior vice president and whether he will be based in the firm’s Seoul office.