There have been some key moves in the Asia-Pacific region over the past week, these are the ones you need to know about.
China Renaissance hires co-head of M&A
Former J.P. Morgan banker Jeremy Choy will join the boutique investment bank China Renaissance as co-head of M&A.
Choy will be based in Hong Kong, working together with the other head Wang Lixing. Both of them will report to Bao Fan, chairman and chief executive officer.
At J.P.Morgan, Choy was an executive director on the North Asia M&A team.
China Renaissance has rapidly risen into spotlight in recent years thanks to a series of prominent deals, particularly in the high-tech sector. It was the adviser to both Didi Dache and Kuaidi Dache on their merger earlier this year. It has gradually driven larger Wall Street firms out in this area.
HSBC moves AM head to Hong Kong
Sridhar Chandrasekharan, chief executive of HSBC Asset Management, has relocated to Hong Kong. The aim of the move is to drive the build-up of its Asian operations, according to HSBC.
Back in June, when HSBC presented its strategy, it revealed that it wanted to grow its asset management business in Asia. Chandrasekharan’s move seems to vindicate that plan. There have been speculations that HSBC is considering moving headquarters to Asia too, but that has never been confirmed.
Boutique Hong Kong bank Reorient poaches from SSGA
A Hong Kong boutique bank, Reorient Group, has just hired Li Ting as co-CEO, who joins from State Street Global Advisors (SSGA) where she was head of Asia ex-Japan.
Li joined SSGA in 2001 and worked across a number of different functions such as US fixed income trading, Asia-Pacific risk management, product development and China market development. Once at Reorient, she will be co-CEO with Brett McGonegal.
Reorient came into spotlight in May this year as Alibaba’s founder Jack Ma bought 56% of its stake.
BMO Private Bank appoints new Asia MD
BMO Private Bank, the international private banking arm of Bank of Montreal, has just hired Steven So as a managing director for private banking. He will be based in Hong Kong.
So was previously with the Edmond de Rothschild group, where he was a managing director and market head.
BMO has been looking to expand in Asia and has made some senior management hires recently. In fact, it just appointed Monique Chan as its Asia CEO just a few weeks ago.
StanChart HK head of DCM leaves
Peter Szekely, head of debt capital markets (DCM) for Hong Kong at Standard Chartered, has left the bank. It’s said he will join another bank, but it has yet to be named.
Szekely joined StanChart in 2011 from independent advisory firm StormHarbour. Before that, he was a managing director at Morgan Stanley, running a leveraged finance team.
Credit Suisse enhances private banking in Asia
Abhishek Mehrotra has been named an executive director and team head for private banking at Credit Suisse. He will be based in HK.
Mehrotra joins from HSBC Private Bank, where he was director of relationship management.
Bank of Singapore’s fund head resigns… again
Bank of Singapore, the private banking arm of OCBC, has seen its head of mutual funds and hedge fund selection Chandrima Das resigned for a second time within a year.
Das’s title at the bank was managing director and head of investment sales and advisory. She first resigned in late 2014, but she quickly rejoined and regained her title in February 2015. For both resignations, family reasons were cited.
Das has 17 years of experience in wealth and asset management sector in both UK and Asia. She previously worked at Prudential Asset Management, M&G and ING Asset Management.
RBC GAM appoints new Asia chief
Royal Bank of Canada’s Global Asset Management (GAM) has announced that it has hired Ken Tam as managing director and head of Asia for its investment management (Asia).
Based in Hong Kong, Tam was previously managing director and head of global client group for APAC ex-Japan at Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management.
In his new role, Tam will report to Clive Brown, CEO and managing director of RBC GAM International.
Barclays promotes credit trading executive in Asia
Alex Aram, who was leading Barclays’s distressed debt business in Asia, has been promoted as head of credit trading operations for APAC. He will be based in Tokyo and report to Mark Dearlove, head of markets for APAC.
Aram joined Barclays as a managing director in July 2008 from Bear Sterns, where he was a managing director for the exotic credit trading desk in Asia. In his new role, he will work closely with Ellis Thomas, who is based in Singapore and is head of credit sales for APAC.
Deutsche Bank loses Asia-Pacific executive
Bhupinder Singh, co-head of corporate banking and securities for Asia-Pacific, will be leaving the bank in a few months’ time.
Based in Singapore, Singh has been in this position since August 2013. Previously he was the bank’s head of corporate finance and structuring for Asia-Pacific.
Deutsche has seen a bit of senior people reshuffling in the region recently. Just a few weeks ago, Parvati Banati, the bank’s head of investment banking in Southeast Asia also left the bank.
BAML Malaysian executive leaves to join watchdog
Azhar Zabidi, head of origination and country client coverage at Bank of America Merrill Lynch in Malaysia, will leave the bank and join the country’s securities regulator to head its capital markets promotion arm.
With nearly 20 years of experience in the financial industry, and seen as a veteran banker in the region, Zabidi has worked for several local and international banks such has CIMB, HSBC and BAML. He joins the regulator at a turbulent time as Malaysia’s currency ringgit has dropped to a 17-year low amid economic growth concerns.
Related articles:
CITIC brokerage has a new head, Morgan Stanley poaches from TemasekThese are the most important people moves in Asian banking in the past week.
Chinese video firm poaches from BAML, StanChart hires for DCMThese are the most important people moves in Asian banking in the past week.
Alibaba swoops for Goldman banker, J.P. Morgan bulks up in asset managementThese are the most important people moves in Asian banking in the past week.