August is supposed to be a quiet month for recruitment. Not in Asia-Pacific, though. There’s been a flurry of moves over the past week as banks and other financial institutions bulk up.

China’s LeTV hires Merrill Lynch’s Asia tech head

Winston Cheng, the head of Asia technology, media and telecommunications (TMT) at Bank of America Merrill Lynch has confirmed that he’s leaving to take up the role of senior vice president and head of corporate finance and development at China’s online video giant LeTV.

Cheng will report to Jia Yueting, chairman of LeTV – the only listed online video company in China.

Talking to FinanceAsia, Cheng said it was probably the right time for him to take on a new challenge after more than 20 years in the banking industry. “LeTV offers a good balance between listed and private fast growth business…” he says.

Prior to BoA Merrill Lynch, Cheng used to work for Goldman Sachs and Citi, largely for their TMT sections.

Standard Chartered boosts Greater China DCM hiring

David Yim, head of debt capital market (DCM) Asia at Royal Bank of Scotland, has left the bank and will join Standard Chartered as head of DCM across Greater China. He will start on Monday.

Yim’s predecessor Tee Choong Hong was promoted in February to the bank’s Greater China and Northeast Asia head of capital markets.

In his new role, Yim will report into Aaron Russell-Davison, head of DCM at StanChart.

Nomura promotes Asia executive

Nomura has announced that John Goff, the Hong Kong-based head of structured products for Asia ex-Japan, will be promoted to head of global markets structuring. He will still be based in Hong Kong.

Goff has been responsible for the development of Nomura’s structured products in Asia ex-Japan in the last three years. Prior to that, he was based in Singapore and worked as Nomura’s head of fixed income structured practice.

He will report to Matt Reader, head of fixed income structured products at Nomura.

J.P. Morgan AM moves APAC CIO to Hong Kong

Richard Titherington, a managing director at JP Morgan Asset Management, is to be relocated to Hong Kong. He is currently the chief investment officer and head of the emerging markets equity team based in London.

Titherington joined the firm in 1986. He was appointed as a managing director in April 2001. Later that year, he was named head of the global emerging markets business. At the moment, he still runs two funds himself, and JP Morgan has said that the move would have no impact on his portfolio management responsibilities.

Julius Baer appoints APAC head

The Swiss private banking group has appointed Jimmy Lee as its new head of Asia Pacific. He will start on 1 October, but will take his head of APAC role from 1 January 2016.

Joining from Credit Suisse, Lee will succeed Thomas R Meier who will return to Switzerland after a ten-year tenure in Asia.

Lee has over 25 years’ experience in the financial industry. He has been Managing Director of Credit Suisse Group AG since April 2012 and also served as its Market Leader for Greater China. Prior to that, he was the head of private wealth management for Southeast and South Asia at Deutsche Bank AG.

Manulife AM makes senior hire

Manulife, a leading Canadian financial services organization with a stronghold in Asia, has appointed Bruno Lee as the Asia head of partnership, product and platform development for wealth and asset management. This is a newly-created role and he will start on 1st September.

Lee joins from Fidelity Investments and will report directly to Michael Dommermuth, Asia head of wealth and asset management of Manulife Asset Management.

According to Dommermuth, Manulife has been merging its wealth and asset management business in Asia, and Lee’s appointment reflects this integration.

Lee joined Fidelity in January 2012 as its head of retail for Asia ex-Japan. Before that, he worked at HSBC from 2006 to 2011, where he was the Asia-Pacific head of wealth management. Yet it was at Fidelity where he honed his skills from 1992 to 2003 – the early years of his career. After that, he briefly became the Taiwan CEO for Invesco for two years, from 2003 to 2005.

J.P. Morgan South Korean head moves to CVC Capital Partners

Steve Lim, the veteran head of J.P. Morgan’s South Korea operations, is said to leave after 20 years at the bank. He’s said to become the Korea chairman of private equity firm CVC Capital Partners.

J.P. Morgan confirmed that Lim will be replaced by Tae J. Park, who has been with the bank since 2001.

AXA IM expands private banking hire

AXA Investment Managers has appointed Kelly Ng as a director in a bid to expand its coverage of private banking and wealth management in Asia.

Joining from Permal Singapore, Ng will be based in Singapore and report to Terence Lam, AXA IM’s head of sales and marketing for Asia.

At Permal, Ng was the vice president for business development for South Asian markets. Prior to that, he used to work for Citibank in Singapore in a number of business development and marketing roles.

Baring AM enhances sales in Hong Kong

Marco Chong started in Hong Kong as a senior manager for sales this week at Baring Asset Management, the UK asset manager which is exploring new opportunities in Asia, particularly in China.

Baring has its own institutional and QDII (qualified domestic institutional investor) business in Mainland China, and distributes QDII funds through various banks there, such as HSBC, ANZ, Citi and Standard Chartered.

While there is obviously a huge business opportunity in Mainland China, Baring prefers not to rush in. Edmund Chong, its head of distribution for Asia ex-Japan, told AsianInvestor that Barings had to get the balance of opportunities and resources right.

Cathay Conning AM loses its CEO

It’s reported that Mark Konyn, the CEO of Cathay Conning Asset Management, has left the firm.

Moving to Hong Kong in 1989, Konyn has established himself a leading figure in Asia’s funds industry. He joined Cathay Conning in February 2012. Prior to that, he was the CEO of RCM, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Allianz where he worked for over 14 years, establishing RCM as a leading provider of funds throughout Asia. Before that, he served as head of institutional business development for Fidelity Investments in Hong Kong, covering clients in Asia and the Middle East.

It’s not clear at the moment what Konyn’s next step is.

 

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