Raffles FO hires from Credit Suisse
Raffles Family Office has appointed Yvonne Siu as its Hong Kong-based group chief operating officer, according to a Linkedin post from the firm.
Siu joined from Credit Suisse, where she spent 16 years mostly in a COO capacity, covering various products and businesses from research trading and quantitative hedge fund, the post said.
Siu’s Linkedin profile shows that she was most recently QT Fund’s COO. Various media reports said that QT Fund, a Credit Suisse Asset Management quant hedge fund, closed in May this year, after being hit hard during the March sell-off.
FSA sought more information from Credit Suisse AM, but it was not able to comment in time for publication.
Raffles FO has been on a hiring spree this year. In Hong Kong alone, it hired at least three executives, including managing director Danny Wong, executive director and head of Greater China development Edward Sit and Stella Kong, managing director for Greater China.
In Singapore, new hires this year include Simon Lints, strategic advisor, and managing director and relationship manager Marvin Koh.
HSBC Global AM names global head of research
HSBC Global Asset Management has appointed Stuart Kirk as global head of research and insights, according to the statement.
Kirk will lead a newly created research and insights team, whose aim is to provide the firm’s retail and institutional clients with investment content and promote its research and analysis. He will report to Joanna Munro, HSBC Global AM’s global chief investment officer.
As part of his role, Kirk will also lead a new initiative called “Alpha Labs”, which brings together the firm’s analysts, data and behavioural scientists, quantitative teams, as well as external academics and researchers in order to apply the latest developments in investment approaches, techniques and technologies to client portfolios.
The research and insights team will also work closely with the responsible investments team in the creation and publishing of analysis on sustainable finance.
Before HSBC Global AM, Kirk was at DWS, where he ran the firm’s research institute. Before that, he was Deutsche Bank’s head of multi-asset and thematic research.
As of the end of September, the firm managed $568bn in assets, according to the statement.
T Rowe expands Australia investment team
T Rowe Price has bolstered its Australian equities investment capability and client support with two appointments in Sydney, according to a statement from the firm.
Nick Vidale has joined the firm as an investment analyst, where he will be covering the financial sector for the firm’s Australian investment team, reporting to the team’s head of research, Ryan Martyn.
Vidale has around 20 years of investment experience across the financials, industrials and consumer sectors in Australia and Asia. Before T Rowe, Vidale was at Perpetual, where he was a senior equities analyst covering Australian banks, diversified financials, property developers, gaming and industrial sectors. Prior to Perpetual, he was a portfolio manager at GLG Partners in Hong Kong covering Asian financials.
Meanwhile, David De Ferranti joined the firm as a portfolio analyst for T Rowe’s investment specialist group (ISG), a team within the investment decision dedicated to handling the flow of information between clients and portfolio manager. He reports to Nick Beecroft, Hong Kong-based head of ISG for Asia-Pacific.
In this newly created role for the Sydney office, De Ferranti will work alongside the firm’s local and global equity investment teams to provide Australian and New Zealand clients market and product insights, while allowing portfolio managers to focus on managing their funds. Before T Rowe, he was at Pendal Investment Management.
The hires just come after the firm expanded its intermediary team in Australia earlier this month with the appointment of Amie Boscacci as a relationship manager for Victoria and Tasmania.
As of the end of September, T Rowe managed $1.31trn in assets globally, according to the statement.
Equity First hires Korea, Thailand execs
Global asset-backed financing specialist Equity First Holdings has appointed two senior executives for its Korea and Thailand operations.
James Gee-Chul Lee has been named as managing director and CEO for Korea, while Ratakorn Kiatikajornthada has been named as managing director for Thailand. Both appointments take effect immediately, according to a statement from the firm.
In their new roles, Lee and Kiatikajornthada will lead origination strategies for Equities First in Korea and Thailand respectively, driving operations across all areas of the business.
Before Equities First, Lee was a relationship partner for global institutional clients at Korean law firm Kim & Chang. Kiatikajornthada, meanwhile, was head of equity capital markets at Macquarie in Thailand.
The hires come after the firm appointed Gordon Crosbie-Walsh last month as CEO for Asia. Crosbie-Walsh is tasked with managing the firm’s operations throughout the Asia region, with a focus on business development across Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand, Korea and China.
Indianapolis-headquartered Equities First is wholly owned by American financier and entrepreneur Alexander Christy, Jr. It manages at least $1bn of proprietary capital in a public equities portfolio.
