They replace Pierre Vrielinck, who will move in December to take up a senior role within BNP Paribas Wealth Management in France after two years at the helm in Asia Pacific, according to a media statement on Wednesday.
Although Chai and Tellier have joint responsibility for the strategic direction and operations of the bank’s wealth management business in the Asia Pacific, they have sub-regional roles based on their previous positions at the bank.
Chai, who was head of wealth management for Greater China, is in charge of the Greater China markets including mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, and also leads the strategic client segment across Asia.
Tellier, who was head of wealth management Singapore and Southeast Asia, is now responsible for Southeast Asia, India, and international markets. Investment services and support functions also report to him, as does David Lim, a market head for Southeast Asia, who has been elevated to Tellier’s previous job.
Both will report hierarchically to co-CEO of BNP Paribas Wealth Management, Vincent Lecomte, and functionally to CEO Asia Pacific of BNP Paribas Group, Eric Raynaud.
Meanwhile, veteran BNP Paribas banker Mignonne Cheng will retain her role as Asia chairman for wealth management.
“Our wealth management franchise is a cornerstone of our “One Bank” approach, enabling us to meet both the personal and professional financial needs of high net worth clients across Asia,” said Raynaud in the statement.
BNP Paribas Wealth Management employs around 7,000 professionals worldwide and has €380bn ($418bn) worth of assets under management (as at 30 June 2019), according to the firm’s website.
The latest appointments follow other developments at the group’s Asia Pacific operations.
In August, Rick Chen was poached from Fidelity to replace Christine Jih as chief executive officer of BNP Paribas Asset Management’s Taiwan business.
