From the press release desk this week…

People moves

State Street Global Advisors has appointed James MacNevin, the firm’s chief operating officer for Asia-Pacific, as its new head of Asia-Pacific. He will replace Lochiel Crafter, who has been named as head of the global institutional group with the responsibility for SSGA’s global institutional distribution. Based in Sydney, MacNevin will report to Crafter. MacNevin first joined SSGA in 1994, and before his COO role, he was the firm’s London-based international head of operations and technology. At the moment, MacNevin will continue with his COO responsibilities until a new COO for Asia-Pacific is named, according to a Hong Kong-based spokeswoman for the firm…

Capital Group has appointed James Blair in the newly created role of Singapore-based head of fixed income investment services for Asia-Pacific. In this role, Blair is responsible for leading the firm’s fixed income strategy in the region, which includes managing fixed income distribution and providing strategic advice on asset allocation to clients. Before joining Capital Group, Blair was at UBS Asset Management, where he led the regional fixed income specialist team and managed an Australian fixed income investment strategy…

Lombard Odier Investment Managers has appointed Arnaud Langlois as portfolio manager and Cyrus Azarmgin as senior analyst. Together, they will be launching a global equity long/short investment strategy with a sustainability focus. Langloi and Azarmgin have run the strategy together for seven years. They previously worked together at Millennium, and before that, at UBS O’Connor, where Langlois launched the O’Connor Sustainability L/S Equity Fund. Lombard Odier IM expects to launch the fund in the second quarter with $100m in committed capital…

Northern Trust has named Angelo Calvitto as head of its Australasia business, which comprises Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands. He will replace Madeleine Senior, who will assume a leadership role in Northern Trust’s London office. Effective 8 June, Calvitto will be responsible for leading Northern Trust’s business in Australia providing asset servicing, asset management and capital markets solutions to sophisticated institutional and investment manager clients. He will report to William Mak, head of Asia-Pacific. Calvitto first joined the firm in 2008 and was most recently head of sales for Northern Trust’s institutional business across Asia-Pacific…

Fintech

Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) and the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (Finma) have entered into a fintech agreement. Under the agreement, the SFC and Finma will cooperate to share information on emerging fintech trends, developments and related regulatory issues…

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and the Government of Maharashtra (Maharashtra is India’s second most populous state, with Mumbai as its capital city), have signed a memorandum of understanding to strengthen fintech cooperation. The agreement provides opportunities for fintech start-ups in Singapore to set-up and build business relationships with fintech companies at the Mumbai fintech hub. The government of Maharashtra will also facilitate the creation of a marketplace for fintech solutions developed in Singapore and at the Centre of Excellence in Mumbai…

Regulation

The China Banking Regulatory Commission has revised rules for foreign banks operating in China, scrapping approval procedures in various areas, such as overseas wealth management products and portfolio investment funds, according to state media agency Xinhua. Banks would now only need to report their services to regulators rather than obtaining approval in advance…

Mis-selling of financial products is on the watchlist of Hong Kong’s SFC, according to the regulator’s latest issue of its Enforcement Reporter. According to the report, an enforcement division team, which specialises in combatting mis-selling of financial products, worked alongside the corporate finance and intermediaries divisions to complete an extensive review of cases involving these products. The team reviewed 34 offering circulars and investigated 11 licensed corporations for mis-selling practices…