New Asia Pacific head of iShares and index investments
Blackrock has appointed Peter Loehnert to lead iShares and index investments for Asia Pacific, effective from 1 October.
Based in Hong Kong, Loehnert will be responsible for growing iShares ETF market share and ETF adoption among investors in the region, as well as institutional index mandates. He replaces Susan Chan, who will remain head of Asia, while Rimmo Jolly remains head of iShares Asia Pacific
Loehnert was most recently the London-based head of Blackrock’s international cash management business, driving the growth in global liquidity assets across multiple currencies.
In his new role, he reports directly to Rachel Lord, Blackrock’s chair and head of Asia Pacific, and to Salim Ramji, global head of iShares and index investments.
Eastspring Investments appoints new head of equities
Eastspring Investments, Asian investment management arm of Prudential plc, has lured Bill Maldonado away from HSBC Global Asset Management (GAM) to be its head of equities.
Subject to regulatory approval, he will start on 6 September 2021.
In this new role, Maldonado will be responsible for managing and diversifying Eastspring’s equity strategies. Based in Singapore, he will report to Boon Peng Ooi, head of Eastspring portfolio strategies.
Maldonado has about 30 years of asset management experience, and was most recently the Asia Pacific chief investment officer and global chief investment officer, equities at HSBC GAM.
Deutsche Bank poaches from Pictet
Deutsche Bank has hired Dominique Jooris to take up a new role as head of wealth solutions coverage, Asia Pacific. Jooris was most recently CEO of Bank Pictet & Cie in Singapore. Previously, he held several senior debt capital market positions, including spending 11 years at Goldman Sachs in Asia and Europe.
Jupiter AM taps Allianz GI for Apac job
Jupiter Asset Management has hired Adam Phua as head of institutional, Asia Pacific. Based in Hong Kong, Phua oversees the development of Jupiter’s relationships with investment consultants and its prospective institutional clients across the region. He reports to Peter Swarbreck, head of Asia Pacific.
Prior to joining Jupiter, Phua spent 21 years at Allianz Global Investors and its predecessor companies in Germany, Singapore and Hong Kong where his most recent role was managing director and head of international institutional sales in Asia.
Phua is one of three new institutional regional heads at Jupiter; the others being in the US and in the UK to lead the firm’s efforts in these jurisdictions.
Deutsche Bank WM hires Southeast Asia investment head
Alania Concepcion has joined Deutsche Bank Wealth Management as director and investment management team head for the Southeast Asia market. Based in Singapore, she reports to Coo-Way Law, managing director, head of Southeast Asia investment management. She will work with clients and relationship managers, focused on investment advisory for the region headed.
Concepcion has recently returned to Singapore, after spending four years in Europe running her own company. She was previously head of investment consulting for the Singapore & Malaysia markets at Credit Suisse. Before that, she was the co-head of private banking sales at Barclays Bank, managing a team responsible for the structuring, sales and trading of capital markets products for private banks and family offices in Singapore and Hong Kong.
HSBC AM appoints global fixed income CIO
HSBC Asset Management has chosen Michael Cross to be its global fixed income CIO, effective 1 September. Based in London, he succeeds and will report to Xavier Baraton, global CIO.
In his new role, Cross will be responsible for leading the firm’s fixed income investment platform including chairing the fixed income strategic forum and coordinating its investment outlook, scenarios, risks and themes.
Cross has over 30 years’ industry experience. He joined HSBC AM as global head of official sector institutions in 2015, and was most recently vice-chair of the institutional business.
Prior to joining HSBC, Michael spent three years at the International Monetary Fund and 20 years at the Bank of England – in the last 12 of which he was leading a large investment team comprising portfolio managers, FX dealers, and policy, research and market intelligence managers and analysts.
Crypto exchange hires former SGX executive
Richard Teng has been named Singapore CEO for Binance. Teng was most recently CEO of the Financial Services Regulatory Authority at Abu Dhabi Global Market, and was previously chief regulatory officer at SGX after spending 13 years with the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS).
In Singapore, Binance is operating under a grace period while the MAS reviews its application for a digital payment token services licence.
