BoA-Merrill hires Deutsche’s Loh Loh Boon Chye has joined Bank of American Merrill Lynch as deputy president for Asia Pacific and head of Asia Pacific global markets. The role will come into effect in December. Loh will report to Matthew Koder, Asia Pacific president at the bank.
Loh will also take on the position of country executive for Singapore and Southeast Asia. He left Deutsche Bank in March, after Rob Rankin, former CEO for Asia Pacific moved to London to take control of corporate finance and co-head corporate banking and securities.
It was speculated that Loh offered the role but chose to decline it, stepping down after a 17-year career at the German bank. Gunit Chadha, CEO for India and Alan Cloete, head of global finance and foreign exchange, became co-CEOs for the region in June.
Meanwhile, Margaret Ren has joined the bank as country executive and chairman of China, reporting to Matthew Koder, president of Asia Pacific.
In this role, Ren will be responsible for leading and driving the strategic direction of the bank businesses in China and partner with Huang Xiaoguang, president of BANA China.
Ren has more than 20-year experience in China’s banking industry. She joins BoA-Merrill Lynch from BNP Paribas, where she was chairman for corporate finance, Greater China. From 2007 to 2009, she was chairman of China investment banking at Merrill Lynch.
SocGen appoints COO and head of CIB for SE Asia
Pascal Lambert has been named chief country officer for Singapore and head of Societe Generale corporate and investment banking (CIB) for Southeast Asia, effective October 9.
He will be based in Singapore and report to Hikaru Ogata, CEO of Societe Generale CIB for the Asia Pacific region. Lambert replaces Maurice Nhan who has left the bank.
Olivier Hartemann has replaced Lambert in his previous role as regional chief operating officer for Societe Generale CIB for Asia Pacific. Hartemann’s position was effective from September 1. He reports to Christophe Leblanc, chief operating officer for CIB, as well as to Ogata.
BoA-Merrill’s Chiu to head HK coverage at HSBC
Yue Seng Chiu will head up coverage for Hong Kong at HSBC, effective immediately. He joins the bank from Bank of America Merrill Lynch, where he was a director in Asia origination for eight years, with a focus on Hong Kong coverage.
He will work alongside global banking and markets products teams as well as global private banking. He will report to Che Ning Liu, head of global banking for Hong Kong and greater China, according to an internal memo seen by Asiamoney PLUS.
Shelley named Apac chief risk officer at RBS
RBS has appointed John Shelley as chief risk officer for Asia Pacific for all of the bank’s businesses in the region. He will report to John McCormick, chairman of RBS Group for Asia Pacific.
Shelley has worked for the group for 30 years, working across the wholesale, retail and commercial as well as private banking divisions. He began by working for NatWest and RBS in the UK, as well as North America and Asia before moving to Hong Kong in 2003 as head of risk for Coutts in Asia.
Since then he has held a number of roles in the region, including chief administrative officer for markets and international banking, for Asia Pacific. Before that he was CEO and COO of retail and commercial markets in Asia.
Ludwigson promoted in CIMB-RBS merger
Oscar Ludwigson, has been promoted to head up the investment banking division of CIMB Group in Australia which will complete its acquisition of RBS’ Australian arm by November 5.
Ludwigson is currently a managing director at RBS, and has been with the UK bank since December 2007. He is based in Sydney, and currently covers technology, media and telecoms (TMT) and entertainment.
Before joining RBS he worked for ABN Amro in London and Sydney, Credit Suisse in Melbourne and Citigroup in the US.
CIMB’s chairman of investment banking Simon Perrott, as well as its country head for Australia Nick Rowe and head of equities Randolf Clinton will keep the same roles at CIMB when the changeover comes into effect.
Citi names head of HK investment banking
Rodney Tsang, co-head of the greater China corporate and investment bank (CIB) team at Citi, has been named the new head of Hong Kong CIB. He will replace Ed Lam, who left the bank recently and has just been hired by logistics company Li & Fung as its chief financial officer.
Tsang was appointed alongside Roger Zhu as co-head of greater China CIB operations at the US bank in March. He joined Citi from Bank of America Merrill Lynch in September 2009, where he was head of private sector China coverage.
Before working for BoA-Merrill, he worked at Credit Suisse from 2002 until 2007.
StanChart poaches Citi’s Apac treasury head
Sridhar Kanthadai has joined Standard Chartered as regional head of transaction banking for North Asia. He moves to the role from Citibank, where he was head of treasury and trade for Asia Pacific and Japan.
He takes over from Neil Daswani, who is now the global head of strategic client coverage for transaction banking at the British bank.
Kanthadai was in his role at Citi since 2010, when he replaced Ivo Distelbrink, who transferred to Bank of America Merrill Lynch as head of global treasury services for Asia.
Vine leaves RBS for ICAP
Richard Vine will take on the role of head of financial futures and options broking for Asia Pacific at interdealer broker ICAP.
He will be based in Singapore and will report to Gary Pettit, global head of financial futures and options, as well as Anthony Warner, the firm’s Singapore CEO.
Vine has worked in finance for 25 years, both on the buy and sell side, in the UK, the US and Asia. His most recent job was with RBS, where he was head of Asia Pacific futures. Before this he worked for MAN Financial. He also co-founded KYTE Broking, an independent brokerage business.
Chong to run Asia office at Centuria Capital
Australian asset manager Centuria Capital has set up a representative office in Singapore, appointing former head of equity and capital transactions at Lend Lease, Chong Woon Pin, as managing director for Asia.
The office is the investment firm’s first in Asia, and Chong’s primary role will be to raise equity from institutional investors in the region to invest into Australian property. He will report to Jason Huljich, CEO of the property division at Centuria Capital.
Before working at Lend Lease, Chong was director of regional investment, business development and advisory at Colliers International.
Asia Pacific CEO of ING IM leaves
Grant Bailey, Asia Pacific head of ING Investment Manager, has left the firm. The decision follows reports that Ameriprise Financial, the parent company of Threadneedle Asset management , has pulled out of plans to buy ING’s Asian asset management firm.
Bailey has worked for ING group for more than ten years. He was appointed CEO in 2010 after Alan Harden left the firm.
Before this, Bailey was regional general manager for Asia Pacific; head of investment operations in the Middle East; and between 2003 and 2007, he was CEO for Australia at ING IM. Before joining ING Group he worked for Citigroup Asset Management.
Aiken to head Aviva Investors Apac real estate
Benjamin Aiken has joined Aviva Investors as head of business development for Asia Pacific real estate. He will report to Ian Hally, the asset manager’s chief executive for Asia Pacific real estate.
Aiken has worked in Asia for over 16 years, most recently for Macquarie Capital where he headed up the private capital markets team for infrastructure advisory across Asia.
BMO GAM takes on BlackRock’s Prakash
Amit Prakash has been appointed head of wealth management products for Asia at BMO Global Asset Management.
He is based in Hong Kong and heads up the asset manager’s wealth and investment product teams in Beijing and Hong Kong. He reports Kevin Gopaul, chief investment officer for exchange traded funds (ETF) and mutual funds, as well as Albert Yu, Asia chief executive at BMO financial group.
Before joining the Canadian firm, Prakash was head of the product development team in Asia for BlackRock’s ETF business, based in Singapore. At BMO he replaces Chi Lee, who left the firm to join Barclays’ wealth division as head of active advisory and investment solutions for North Asia.
Lam appointed CFO at Li & Fung
Ed Lam has joined Li & Fung as chief financial officer (CFO), based in Hong Kong. The role is effective on November 5 and Lam will report to Spencer Fung, chief operating officer (COO) for the group.
He moves to the role from Citi where he was most recently head of Hong Kong corporate and investment banking, and has been replaced by Rodney Tsang. As well as Citi, Lam has worked at Morgan Stanley in New York and Hong Kong and Coopers and Lybrand in Los Angeles.
The last CFO at the Hong Kong firm was Frank Leong, who retired in 2004. Between that time and Lam’s appointment, the role was filled by William Fung and Spencer Fung.