Sugawara assumed his role today.
Prior to joining J Safra Sarasin, Sugawara was a Hong Kong-based director for the Japan market at Deutsche Bank Private Wealth Management, according to a statement from the bank.
Sugawara’s role is neither newly-created nor a replacement, according to a Hong Kong-based spokeswoman for the bank. “We are simply expanding by adding more staff,” she said, but did not mention how many managing directors for client advisory the bank has.
In his role, Sugawara is responsible for advising clients in Asia as a private banker, according to the spokeswoman. He has a team of two, and the bank will be hiring more staff in the future, but not for his team, she added.
Sugawara first moved to Hong Kong in 2002 to work with Credit Suisse Private Bank as a relationship manager for Japan, according to the statement. Before that, he was a Tokyo-based assistant vice president for the Japan market at Citi Private Bank and a relationship manager at Long-Thirederm Credit Bank of Japan.
J Safra Sarasin is present in 25 locations in Europe, Asia, the Middle East and Latin America, according to the statement. As of end-2015, it managed a total of CHF144bn ($141.4bn) in client assets globally and employs around 2,000 staff.
