NAB appoints Pappas CEO for Asia
Spiro Pappas has taken on the role of chief executive officer for Asia at National Australia Bank (NAB). He will work alongside the Australia and New Zealand teams.
Pappas joined NAB in Australia in 2009 as head of institutional banking with global responsibility, covering large corporates, multi-nationals, commercial real estate, government and education as well as acquisition finance and advisory.
Before this, he worked for 13 years in London and New York, including an 11-year stint with ABN Amro, where he headed up a number of global businesses. Before ABN Amro, he worked for Deutsche Bank in Sydney, New York and London.
David Thorn, global head of consumers sectors at NAB will also relocate from Sydney to Hong Kong in December this year.
Jefferies & Co scoops RBS China’s Liu
Sherry Liu has joined US investment bank Jefferies & Co., which is looking to expand its business into Asia. Liu resigned from RBS in August, after only a year and four months working for the bank, where she was chairman and chief executive of the China business.
Alex Chu took over to chair the board of RBS China, the British bank’s mainland China JV with Guolian Securities. Chu also continues in his capacity as head of international banking for North Asia. Qing Cheng Hua, country executive for RBS in China, continues in the same role.
Liu joined RBS from J.P. Morgan where she worked for seven years, most recently as chairman for China financial institutions as well as vice chairman for China.
Liu’s appointment by Jefferies & Co. coincides with the bank being granted a capital markets service license by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), allowing the bank’s futures and options business to trade in Singapore.
Volz to head cash management at Commerzbank
Brigitte Volz has replaced Guenter Gerke as regional head of cash management and international business in Asia, based in Shanghai. Volz has previously headed up trade finance and payments for the bank, based in Germany and Italy.
Gerke will return to Germany after four years in Asia and more than 40 years with Commerzbank.
StanChart names co-head of wholesale banking
Sarab Bhutani has been appointed co-head of wholesale banking for Indonesia at Standard Chartered. He moves to the position from his role as the head of the financial sponsors group at Standard Chartered, based in Hong Kong.
In his new capacity he will be responsible for origination and client coverage. He joined the bank from Lehman Brothers in 2008. He takes over from Gurchi Kadan, and will report jointly to Anand Kumar, head of origination and client coverage for Southeast Asia, as well as Tom Aaker, CEO for Indonesia.
Rabobank veteran leaves for US
Head of Rabobank Australia and New Zealand Group country banking division, Neil Dobbin has left the region in order to take over as CEO of the bank’s US agriculture banking business, Rabo Agri Finance (RAF).
He has worked for the bank in Australia and New Zealand for 25 years, and before that for the Primary Industry Bank of Australia (PIBA), which was acquired by Rabobank in 1994.
He will be replaced by Peter Knoblanche, who will become head of the Australian banking operations and Ben Russell, who will take on the same role in New Zealand.
Threadneedle in fixed income hires
John Peta will head up the asset manager’s emerging market debt team along with Henry Stipp. Peta joins Threadneedle from Acadian Asset Management where he was head of emerging market debt, having joined the Boston-based firm in 2007.
The role was effective from October 15, and he reports to Jim Cielinski, head of fixed income. He will focus on local currency debt currency, while Stipp will continue to head up the firm’s hard currency debt portfolios.
Stipp has been at Threadneedle since 2001 and both men will take charge of the emerging market macro economic strategy group. The move comes after Cielinski announced a restructure in April this year.
Since then, Clifford Lau joined the firm in June as head of Asia Pacific fixed income based in Singapore, and Zara Kazaryan joined in July as a fund manager for emerging market corporate debt, based in London.
In addition to Peta, Tammie Chan has also joined the firm from Pembroke Managing Agency, as a fund manager, focusing on investment grade insurance funds. Ryan Staszewski also joins from J.P. Morgan, as a corporate credit analyst within the investment grade team. Finally, James Walters has moved from Goldman Sachs as a fixed income investment specialist.
First State’s head of fixed income quits
Murray Collis, head of fixed income at First State Investments has left the company. He has worked for the firm for 15 years, and moved from London to Hong Kong in 2007 to take on his most recent role.
It has been suggested that he could be set to join Standard Life Investments, in a similar role. Before moving to Hong Kong, he worked as a portfolio manager for the investment company’s global fixed interest team, for six years.
Before this, he worked as an FX portfolio manager at Colonial First State Global Asset Management, based in Sydney. His replacement at First State Investments has not been announced.
AEW Capital Management appoints Asia head
David Schaefer has joined AEW Asia as managing director and head of the real estate investment firm’s Asia division. In addition, Jason Lee joins as director and chief investment officer, and Michael Moon joins as associate director and country manager, based in Seoul. Schaefer and Lee will be based in Hong Kong.
The US company has a 15-strong team in Asia, based in Hong Kong, Singapore and Seoul. Schaefer has worked in real estate investment in the Asia Pacific region for 23 years. He joins the firm from DTZ Investment and Asset Management (DTZ) where he was global head of institutional capital and head of Asia Pacific. Before this he was head of Asia Pacific at Citi Property Investors, and head of property, Asia, for Macquarie Bank as well as senior advisor to the Schroder Asian Properties Fund.
Lee also joins from DTZ, where he was fund manager and chief investment officer. Before this he was director of the Asia opportunistic real estate fund and the global principal investments group at Merrill Lynch.
Moon moves from his position as head of Korean investments at DTZ. Before this he was director and head of Macquarie real estate Korea.
UBS GAM hires Gwee from Coutts
Alton Gwee has joined UBS Global Asset Management from Coutts Private Bank in a new role as pan-Asia fixed income capability manager. The role was effective from October 15. Gwee is based in Singapore, and reports to James Blair, fixed income investment specialist at UBS GAM in Sydney.
Before moving to UBS GAM, Gwee worked for Coutts based in Singapore, where he was responsible for portfolio management, sales and client service for private clients. Before this, he worked for Aberdeen Asset Management in the firm’s Asian fixed income team.
RPC hires Asia CEO
Jennifer Fennerty has joined Reynolds Porter Chamberlain (RPC) as CEO for Asia. She will work alongside David Smyth, Asian senior partner at the firm. Fennerty will head up all RPC’s non-legal operations in Asia, such as strategy, finance and business planning and development.
She joins from Goodwin Procter where she was pan-Asia practice manager. Before this she worked for Clifford Chance, heading up the firm’s business development team in China.
Smyth joined the firm from Barlow Lyde & Gilbert (BLG) in April, along with three other partners from BLG, Antony Sassi, Andrew Horton and Gary Yin. Together they launched the Hong Kong office, and were later joined by Jason Carmichael, a former partner at Hong Kong law firm CdB and JC & Co.