The latest monthly summary of moves among senior figures in the Asia-Pacific wealth management industry during April.

Asia-Pacific moves during April 

The Bank of East Asia said that former general manager and head of the wealth management division Henry Pang had resigned. Pang was in the post for just three months; prior to this, he worked at BNP Paribas.

JP Morgan Asset Management appointed a new head of Singapore and Southeast Asia, Sherene Ban. She replaced Stephen Billet, who left the firm in February. Ban is responsible for the distribution strategy for the firm’s institutional and retail clients in the region. Ban, based in Singapore, reports to Dan Watkins, Asia-Pacific chief executive, JP Morgan Asset Management. A native Singaporean, Ban was most recently based in London for JPM AM.

Hong Kong-based Adamas Asset Management appointed Brock Silvers as its new chief investment officer. Silvers has been with Adamas since August 2019, serving as managing director in charge of global marketing and investor relations. Silvers, a fluent Chinese speaker and Wharton alum, was previously managing director at multi-asset investment firm Kaiyuan Capital based in Shanghai. He also spent time as equity research director at Equity Group Investments and is a former CEO at Shanghai-based hospitality group Laris.

Union Bancaire Privée hired three seasoned managers to continue expanding its wealth management offering in Asia. Flora Kam, Ula Ju, and Mary Cheung all joined the Hong Kong office as senior relationship managers. Kam and Cheug both joined from similar roles at Credit Suisse in the region, and Ju moved from managing the Greater China business for French wealth manager BNP Paribas. All three have deep credentials in the private client HNW and UHNW space, the group said.

The Singapore and Malaysia market head of HSBC Private Banking, Shang-Wei Chow, left the bank after having joined in November 2016. Chow had been in charge of developing new business within his area. Before he joined Hong Kong/London-listed HSBC, Chow worked for UBS Wealth Management for more than a decade and was based in Singapore.

A former wealth and investment chief for Barclays took up a new role with India-based Avendus Wealth Management. Akshaya Bhargava, based in London, became a non-executive director at the firm. Bhargava is the founder of Bridgeweave, a business-to-business fintech firm that creates artificial intelligence-powered products for wealth and asset management industries. From 2014 to 2017, he was the global CEO of wealth and investment management for Barclays. Before that, he founded InfraHedge, a hedge fund managed account platform, which was acquired by State Street Corporation in 2013. He has also served as CEO of Butterfield Fulcrum Group (acquired by MUFJ Group) and the founding CEO of Progeon (acquired by Infosys and later renamed as Infosys BPO in 2006).

Allianz Partners named Vinay Surana as regional chief executive for Asia-Pacific. Based in Singapore, Vinay’s regional remit includes Australasia, China, Japan, India and South East Asia. He reports to Dan Assouline, global head of markets and board member, Allianz Partners. Surana has more than 20 years of experience in the financial services sector. Prior to joining Allianz, he was senior vice president, head of individual personal insurance for Asia-Pacific within AIG, where he spent more than 13 years in various senior executive positions in Asia, the US and Australasia.

A senior Bank of Singapore figure left the bank after being at the Asian institution for more than 10 years. Marc Van de Walle stepped down from the role of global head of products. 

Chow Shang Wei, market leader for Singapore and Malaysia at HSBC Private Banking, resigned from the team. Chow Shang Wei joined HSBC in 2016 and has gained more than 19 years of experience in the wealth management arena. Prior to joining HSBC Private Banking, he was executive director, Wealth Management at UBS, Singapore.

HarbourVest Partners, a global private markets asset manager, appointed Tadasu Matsuo as a managing director and co-head of the firm’s Japan office. Based in Tokyo, Matsuo is responsible for enhancing and building relationships with institutional investors and general partners in Japan. Matsuo has more than 30 years of experience in finance and has spent the past decade focused on private equity and alternative investment strategies. 

Man GLG, the discretionary investment management unit of Man Group, appointed Andrew Swan as head of Asia (ex-Japan) equities. With more than 25 years’ experience investing in Asian and emerging markets equities, Swan is responsible for managing a concentrated long-only Asia (ex-Japan) equity strategy. He joins the firm in the middle of the third quarter of this year and is based in Sydney, Australia where he reports to Man GLG CEO Teun Johnston. Swan joined Man GLG from BlackRock, where he most recently served as head of Asia and global emerging market fundamental equities, managing significant client assets across multiple Asian and emerging markets equity strategies and helping to develop the firm’s investment platform in Asia. 

BNP Paribas Asset Management appointed Priyo Santoso as president director of its Indonesia arm. Santoso reports to Hong Kong-based Ligia Torres, BNPP AM’s chief executive for Asia-Pacific. Santoso has almost 30 years of experience in the financial services and investment management industry and was most recently chief investment officer/investment group head of PT Asuransi Jiwa Generali Indonesia. Prior to that, he held various senior positions at PT Mandiri Manajemen Investasi as the firm’s chief investment officer, and PT Danareksa Investment Management as its president director.

Patricia Cheung was named chief operating officer at Value Partners Group in 12 months of succession planning at the Hong Kong-based firm. Since July 2019, Cheung carried out the role jointly with Roger Hepper, who retired. Cheung joined Value Partners as a chief administrative officer in August 2018, following senior posts in investment banking, central counterparty, and asset management businesses.

Switzerland-based Bank J Safra Sarasin appointed Yann Mocellin as executive director in Singapore. From December 2017 to April 2020 Mocellin was a family office advisor; from June 2016 to November 2017 he was a managing partner at Mindful Wealth Pte in Singapore, according to his Linkedin profile. Earlier (February 2012 to June 2016)  he was senior vice president at DBS, also in Singapore.

HSBC Private Banking in Asia-Pacific appointed former JP Morgan senior figure Sharon Oh as its chief operating officer. Oh replaced Gaurav Rao, who moved to London to take up a new role within the private bank. Oh reports to Siew Meng Tan and Anil Venuturupalli, global COO, HSBC Private Banking. In this role Oh leads the regional COO teams. Prior to this, Oh worked at JP Morgan’s private banking unit. She was most recently chief of staff in the global institutional client segment, based in London. Before that, Oh spent five years as the COO for JP Morgan Private Bank Asia-Pacific based in Hong Kong, and was previously the COO for North Asia at Credit Suisse.

Raffles Family Office, the Asian multi-family office and asset manager, appointed the former CEO of Schroders’ wealth business in Asia, Simon Lints, in the newly-created role as strategic advisor. Lints is responsible for driving the firm’s strategic expansion and business development in Asia, particularly in the markets of Southeast Asia. He is based in Singapore and reports to Chiman Kwan, founder and CEO. Prior to Schroders, Lints worked at Credit Suisse.

Regulatory technology start-up Nexus FrontierTech appointed former senior Monetary Authority of Singapore figure David Hardoon as an independent advisor. Hardoon provides counsel in the area of organisational growth and development and strategy. At MAS, Hardoon was chief data officer and special advisor (artificial intelligence).

Westpac chairman John McFarlane appointed Peter King as the permanent CEO at the bank, fixing the term for two years. King had been a caretaker since Brian Hartzer's departure in November following the exposure of money laundering failings. In January, King replaced Westpac chairman Lindsay Maxsted during a few tense months of executive churn at the bank caused by the AML probe and class action suits surfacing relating to financial failings over a number of years.

Raffles Family Office appointed Marvin Koh as managing director for relationship management, based in Singapore. He has served clients from across Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Hong Kong, Taiwan and China. Starting his career in DBS in 2005, he went on to work as a relationship manager at ABN AMRO Private Bank, and later worked at CIC Banque Privee Singapore. Before working at Raffles FO, he worked at DBS Private Bank.

Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, aka KKR, appointed Hidekazu Harada as a managing director on its private equity team based in Tokyo. Harada brought over 20 years of investment banking experience to KKR. He joined from Bank of America Merrill Lynch where he worked for 16 years, most recently as a board member and co-head of Japan investment banking, the private equity titan said in a statement yesterday. 

IQ-EQ, the investor services provider which rebranded from its SGG name last year, appointed Sukanya Lal to join its Singapore team as business development director. Lal worked in the financial sector for almost 19 years. Before joining IQ-EQ, she served in senior business development roles spanning Mumbai and Delhi. Most recently, she was associate director of business development, marketing and sales for a global provider of cloud-based fund services, technology and mobility-enabled infrastructure for fund managers.