From the press release desk this week…
People moves
Standard Chartered Private Bank has appointed Ali Hammad as market head for Middle East and North Africa (MENA). Based in London, he reports to Stephen Atkinson, regional head for private banking Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA). Before Standard Chartered PB, Hammad was at Coutts, where he was most recently head of Asia, Middle East and Africa. Standard Chartered has also added 14 staff for its MENA team this year, comprising a mix of relationship managers and client service managers…
Aviva Investors has appointed Paul LaCoursiere to the newly created role of global head of ESG research within its global responsible investment team. Based in London, LaCoursiere will be responsible for the corporate ESG research process of the firm, including the integration and monitoring of ESG criteria within equities and credit. He will jointly lead the research team with Mirza Baig, global head of governance, who is also responsible for ESG integration across multi-asset and macro and real estate portfolios. The firm has also appointed Oliver Judd and Kevin Gaydos as co-heads of credit research, reporting to Colin Purdie, chief investment officer for credit. London-based Judd, who first joined the firm in 2006, will continue to lead the financial teams, while Chicago-based Gaydos, who first joined in 2008, will continue to lead the commodities and industrials team…
Manulife Real Estate has appointed Kenneth Tsang to the newly-created role of managing director and head of real estate asset management for Asia. Based in Hong Kong, Tsang will oversee the firm’s real estate investments in Asia, including Hong Kong, Shanghai, Singapore, Melbourne and Sydney. He will report to Ted Willcocks, global head of asset management for real estate. Before Manulife, Tsang was general manager for property at KHI Holdings Group, where he co-led the acquisition, asset management and divestment of real estate assets across the region and the UK…
UBS Asset Management has appointed Joseph Azelby as head of real estate and private markets (REPM) business. Based in New York, Azelby will be responsible for the firm’s 100bn REPM business, which has around 550 staff globally. He will replace Thomas Wels, who has been appointed as UBS AM’s divisional vice chairman. Before UBS AM, Zelby was senior partner and head of real assets at Apollo Asset Management. He was also CEO of JP Morgan’s global real assets for 18 years…
Value Partners has announced the re-designation of Cheah Cheng Hye and the appointment of Louis So as co-chairmen. Cheah is currently the firm’s chairman and co-chief investment officer, while So is the deputy chairman and co-chief investment officer. Cheah will continue to play an active role in steering the firm’s overall business and investment strategies, while So will work closely with Cheah on all aspects of providing leadership to Value Partners. So will be more engaged in the daily operations of the firm, while Cheah will focus on more strategic matters, including the appointments of key staff…
Fund launches
Kuala Lumpur-based Affin Hwang Asset Management has launched the Global Healthscience Fund, which is a wholesale feeder fund that invests into the Blackrock Global Funds World Healthscience Fund. The product is available to sophisticated investors and is sold via the firm’s sales offices or Citibank branches in Malaysia…
ESG
BNP Paribas Asset Management is planning to implement an enhanced coal-exclusion policy, which will come into effect at the start of 2020. The new policy will exclude companies that derive more than 10% of their revenue from mining thermal coal and/or account for 1% or more of total global production. Power generators whose carbon intensity is above the 2017 global average of 491 gCO2/kWh will also be excluded. The policy will apply to all of the firm’s actively-managed, open-ended funds, as well as becoming the default policy for segregated mandates…
