STORIES YOU MAY HAVE MISSED THIS WEEK
People moves
UBS has appointed Ralph Hamers as its new group CEO, effective November 1, according to a statement from the firm. He will join the firm as a member of the group executive board on 1 September in order to ensure a smooth leadership transition. Hamers will replace Sergio Ermotti, who has been the group CEO for nine years. The statement did not say whether Ermotti will leave UBS, however. “After nearly a decade as CEO, now is the right time to write my next chapter,” Ermotti said. Currently, Hamers is ING Group’s CEO. He joined ING in 1991 and was appointed as CEO in 2013…
The Asian Association for Investors in Non-Listed Real Estate Vehicles (Anrev) has announced that Megan Walters, global head of research at Allianz Real Estate, has joined the association as a board member. Anrev’s board is responsible for developing the general strategy for the association and overseeing the executive office’s execution of its approved plans, programmes and cooperation with its partners INREV, NCREIF and PREA. Walters joined Allianz Real Estate in October, and before that was Jones Lang Lasalle’s head of research for Asia-Pacific…
Business moves
HSBC is planning to axe around 35,000 jobs globally, representing a 15% cut in its workforce, and reduce costs by around $4.5bn, according to the bank’s earnings report. While the bank plans to reduce its sales and trading and equity research in Europe and reduce its US branch network by around 30%, it plans to accelerate investments in Asia and the Middle East and shift more resources to those regions. The plan comes after its profit attributable to ordinary shareholders was down 53% to $6bn in 2019, while profit before tax was down 33% to $13.3bn. The firm also plans to combine its retail banking and wealth management and global private banking into one division…
Gam has announced that it will be scrapping bonuses for its top executives and its dividend for 2019 as its CEO Peter Sanderson attempts to make the fund group “fit for the future”, according to a report from FSA’s sister publication, Portfolio Adviser. Profits at the firm plunged to CHF 10.5m ($10.6m) in 2019, down from CHF 126.7m in 2018. As a result, the board said it had decided to axe the dividend for the year…
Kuala Lumpur-based Affin Hwang Asset Management has launched a US money market feeder fund to sophisticated investors, according to a statement from the firm. The Affin Hwang World Series – US Dollar Liquidity Fund, is a white-labelled version of HSBC Global Asset Management’s US Dollar Liquidity Fund. “We recognise the importance of liquidity amongst individual and corporate investors to meet cash flow obligations especially during volatile market conditions,” Chan Ai Mei, chief marketing and distribution officer at Affin Hwang, said in the statement…
