Pictet WM’s hiring spree
The Swiss wealth manager has signed up three former UOB private bankers in Singapore to cover North Asia clients, and added four other bankers in Hong Kong.
UOB’s ex-North Asia market head Eric Phua has been named market group head, reporting to head of South Asia Sharon Chou, along with Jaime Ang as market leader and Bernard Bay as a senior private banker.
Phua has 20 years of private banking experience and, including working for Citi Private Bank in Singapore covering the China and Taiwan markets. Ang was most recently a senior client advisor at UOB covering private banking clients from North Asia for a decade, and previously was a senior relationship manager at Citi International Personal Bank and DBS. Bay was also a senior client advisor at UOB covering private banking clients from North Asia, and had worked for Citi International Personal Bank and HSBC.
In Hong Kong, Pictet Wealth Management has hired Peter Chiu and Andrew Au as senior private bankers with Kevin Tang as a private banker, covering the Greater China, China and Hong Kong markets, respectively.
Chiu joins from Credit Suisse where he was an executive director in the Greater China team for 15 years overseeing a portfolio of China and Taiwan wealthy clients, and has 20 years of experience and previously worked at Citi and Standard Chartered.
Au joins from Nomura where he was an executive director in the Hong Kong team with responsibilities for wealthy clients, family offices, private foundations and charities. Previously, he was a client director with Schroders in Hong Kong.
Former HSBC banker, Tang joins from CMB Wing Lung Bank where he was a relationship manager focusing on the China market.
Meanwhile, 20-year veteran Ramon Au Yeung will cover the Philippines market from Hong Kong. Previously, he was at UBS Wealth Management where he was an executive director for 16 years.
Mahesh returns to Deutsche Bank
Anurag Mahesh is rejoining Deutsche Bank Wealth Management as vice chairman, wealth management Apac. In this newly created role, he will focus on bringing new client relationships into the wealth management business in the region, as well as assisting the coverage and advisory teams in deepening relationships with existing clients. He will start in early January based in Singapore and report to Lok Yim, head of International Private Bank (IPB) Apac and CEO of the Hong Kong Branch, regionally and Alessandro Caironi, global head of lending and advisory & sales, globally. He will join the IPB APAC Exco.
Mahesh has 25 years of experience in private banking. He joins from UBS, where he was co-head of global family office for Asia Pacific. He worked closely with regulators and other stakeholders in Singapore as part of key industry groups to further the development of the family office industry there.
Mahesh spent ten years with Deutsche Bank from 2007-2017, and held a wide range of leadership roles while at Deutsche Bank, most recently as global head of key client partners.
Jupiter appoints new CIO
Jupiter has appointed Matthew Beesley as chief investment officer, succeeding Stephen Pearson who is retiring following a 35-year career in the industry including nearly two decades at Jupiter. Beesley will join the company in January 2022.
With nearly 25 years of experience in the investment industry, Beesley joins Jupiter from Artemis, where he has been CIO since April 2020. Prior to this, he was head of investments at GAM Investments from 2017 to 2020, where he was responsible for the management and oversight of its investment strategies managed by teams based in Europe, Asia and the US.
Previously, Beesley was head of global equities at Henderson, responsible for a team managing significant assets in global, international (world ex US) and global socially responsible investment strategies. He is a member of the Church of England Pension Board’s investment committee, advising on $4bn of ethically invested pension fund assets.
Allfunds appoints Hong Kong operations chief
Allfunds, the funds platform organisation, has appointed Sebastien Chaker as head of its Hong Kong business, which it opened a year ago.
Chaker, who has two decades of industry experience, was previously an executive board member for Clearstream Fund Centre AG (Zurich). He has also worked in senior roles at UBS and Calastone, where he set up and ran Asian operations after moving to Hong Kong with the firm in 2013.
At Allfunds, Chaker will focus on managing the Hong Kong relationships with around 50 distributors across the region. He will also lead efforts to identify new opportunities to increase Allfunds’ business in North Asia and help the commercial team in Singapore which works with clients in other countries in the region.
Chaker will report directly to David Perez de Albéniz, head of Asia at Allfunds, who is based in Singapore.
Manulife IM boosts Asia fixed income team
Manulife Investment Management (IM) has hired Isaac Meng, managing director and portfolio manager, fixed income, and Judy Kwok, head of Greater China fixed income research, to its Asia fixed income team. The new hires are part of the firm’s efforts to strengthen its fixed income research and investment capability and grow its reach in China.
Based in Hong Kong, Meng is responsible for managing Manulife IM’s China bond strategies. He also works with the Asian fixed income team across the region. He reports to Paula Chan, senior managing director and senior portfolio manager, Asia fixed income.
Also based in Hong Kong, Kwok leads the firm’s Greater China fixed income research. She is responsible for managing the credit teams in Greater China, as well as overseeing fixed income research activities in Greater China and North Asia. Kwok also leads the firm’s efforts to drive collaboration and integration with Manulife-Teda. She reports to Fiona Cheung, head of global emerging markets fixed income research.
An industry veteran with more than 25 years of experience, Meng was previously at Pimco Asia as senior vice president, portfolio manager and macro strategist and led the firm’s China fixed income strategy and macro analysis function as well as interacting with China’s regulators and monetary policymakers. Prior to that he was at BNP Paribas Securities Asia as senior economist, and before that held various fixed income-related roles at Bank of Montreal and Bank of China.
With more than 20 years of credit experience, Kwok was previously at Bank of Singapore as director of fixed income research, and before that she served in senior research positions at Fidelity International and First State Investments in Hong Kong. She began her career as an analyst with the Australia Prudential Regulatory Authority and Standard & Poor’s in Australia and Hong Kong.
Leo Wealth signs up investment director
Leo Wealth has hired Jason Gibbons as investment director, Asia, based in Hong Kong. He will join Leo Wealth’s global investment team and report to Harmen Overdijk, global chief investment officer.
Gibbons will be responsible for providing strategic investment advice, portfolio management services and multi-asset class views to the firm’s Asian clients. He specializes in asset allocation, alternative investments, and thematic research.
Gibbons joins from BNY Mellon Wealth Management, where he spent 11 years as client portfolio manager, working with private clients and high net worth families. He was responsible for managing the firm’s Asian clients’ discretionary portfolios and providing asset allocation guidance.
Originally from the US, Gibbons has spent the last eight years in Hong Kong.
Maitri AM expands investment advisory business
Maitri Asset Management, a Singapore-based, active responsible investment manager and multi-family office, has added two seasoned executives to its client relationship and investment advisory teams. Varun Gulati, a private banking industry veteran, joins as a relationship management director to help drive Maitri’s client relationship strategy and partnerships.
Edwin Aw joins as an investment counsellor to focus on formulating and managing bespoke investment solutions for clients. Both will be based in Singapore; Gulati reports to Manish Tibrewal, chief executive officer, and Aw reports to Ankit Khandelwal, chief investment officer.
Gulati brings with him more than 17 years of industry experience in Asia and the Middle East. He joins Maitri from the private banking division of Deutsche Bank, and has previously held roles in wealth management across international banks and financial institutions including ABN Amro, HSBC and Standard Chartered.
Aw joins Maitri from HSBC, where he was a private banking investment specialist. His career spans stints at numerous financial institutions including Schroders, ING and Bank of America Merrill Lynch. individuals.
