Cheng joins Barclays in Taiwan
Barclays in Taiwan has hired Liu I-Cheng as managing director and head of investment banking for Taiwan, a spokesperson from the bank has confirmed. He will be based in Taipei. He joins from EasyCard Corporation, where he was chairman. Before this he worked both for J.P. Morgan and for Cathay Financial.
He will report to Peter Ding, head of Greater China investment banking, who has taken responsibility for Taiwan since the departure of Gary Kuo, former Taiwan chairman, last year.
Baader named chief APAC economist at SocGen
Société Générale has appointed Klaus Baader as chief Asia Pacific economist, a spokeswoman for the bank confirmed. He will work for the bank’s cross asset research team, based in Hong Kong.
He will report to Michala Marcussen, global head of economics and also to Guy Stear, head of research for the Asia Pacific region. He will cover both economics and policy.
He joined the bank in 2009 and relocated from London, where he was chief Euro economist. Before this he was chief economist for Europe at Merrill Lynch, after working for Lehman Brothers, UBS, Deutsche Bank and Salomon Brothers.
RBS hires two senior economists
Louis Kuijs joins RBS in Hong Kong as the bank’s chief China economist and Enrico Tanuwidjaja joins in Singpore as the lead economist for Southeast Asia.
Kuijs joins from the Fung Global Institute, where he managed a research project on the evolving economic growth models of China and India. Before that he was a senior economist at MF Global in Hong Kong and the World Bank in Beijing.
Tanuwidjaja joins from Maybank where he was a senior FX strategies, covering Asian currencies and macroeconomics. Both will report to Sanjay Mathur, managing director and head of economic research for Asia Pacific ex-Japan.
Fukaya leaves Credit Suisse
Kojio Fukaya, Japan-based chief currency strategist at Credit Suisse has left the bank to become an independent analyst. The bank will continue to provide Japan foreign exchange research from the regional foreign exchange team, according to a spokesperson.
Fukaya joined Credit Suisse from Deutsche Bank in 2010, where he was a senior currency strategist. He worked for Deutsche Bank in Japan for three years, before which he spent 23 years at the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ.
There he was chief analyst in the foreign exchange and treasury division, then chief economist.
Duarte joins BNZ as CFO
Bank of New Zealand (BNZ) has appointed Adrienne Duarte as chief financial officer (CFO), effective September 2012. She will replace Ken Christie, who is leaving the bank at the end of the year to join National Australia Bank (NAB).
Duarte has worked at NAB for 12 years where she was most recently general manger for group performance and planning. She has also been general manager for performance management and capital insights, general manager for financial strategy and for group strategic investments.
Before this, she worked in corporate finance and strategy consulting both in the UK and in Australia.
Morgan Stanley fires ten from investment banking team
Ronnie Potel, co-head of ECM for the Asia Pacific region, was one of ten to be cut from Morgan Stanley’s investment banking team last week.
Others include Marcus Parker, an executive director of ECM based in Australia and Xiaoli Sofia Liang, an executive director responsible for ECM deals in China, who was based in Hong Kong.
According to Asiamoney’s sister publication EuroWeek Asia, these cuts came as Morgan Stanley looks to scale down its operations in Asia.
Potel had been with the bank for two years. He was initially hired as head of convertible bond origination across the Asia-Pacific region, before being promoted to co-head of ECM with Justin Haik. He is unlikely to be replaced.
Wong replaces Szeto at DBS
Senior vice-president in the loans team at DBS, Diana Szeto, has left to take some time away from banking. She was based in Hong Kong and managed loans from both local and mainland Chinese clients.
She joined DBS from her position at ING Bank as head of lending in Hong Kong. Before joining ING she worked for ABN Amro where she was head of loan syndication for Asia.
Following Szeto’s departure, Benjamin Wong will run the syndicated finance team out of Hong Kong.
Poon transferred from HSBC to Hang Seng
Head of business and strategy for Hong Kong at HSBC, Thomas Poon, has been appointed designate deputy chief executive at Hang Seng Bank.
He will also become deputy head of corporate and commercial banking at the Hong Kong lender, reporting to the head of corporate and commercial banking, Jethro Lau.
The move is dependent on the China Banking Regulatory Commission’s approval. Once the change has been formulated, Poon will become one of six deputy chief executives at Hang Seng China.
IFC scoops Goldman banker for CEO
Jin-Young Cai will become executive vice president and CEO of the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, in October.
Cai was previously a managing director at Goldman Sachs, as well as CEO of Goldman Sachs Gao Hua. He began his career at the World Bank as an economist in central Europe and South Asia. After that he joined Morgan Stanley, and was seconded to the China International Capital Corporation.
He takes over from Rashad Kaldany, acting vice president and CEO of the IFC, who was previously the vice president for global industries. Cai’s appointment will be effective October 1.
HSBC GAM appoints two equity directors
HSBC Global Asset Management (GAM) has appointed Michael Chiu and Karma Wilson as investment directors in the Asian equity team.
Chiu focuses on managing Chinese equities, reporting to Mandy Chan, head of Chinese equities. Wilson covers Asian equities and reports to Husan Pai and Michael Dillon, co-heads of Asian equities. Both are based in Hong Kong.
Chiu has worked in the Greater China equity markets for 12 years. Before joining HSBC GAM in June, he was senior investment manager at ING Investment Management. Before that he was assistant vice president in the Asian equity team at Credit Suisse Asset Management in Sydney.
Wilson has been head of Asian equities for the last five years at AMP Capital Investors in Sydney. Before that she was senior portfolio manager at Goldman Sachs Asset Management in New York, Singapore and Hong Kong. She joined HSBC GAM in July.
Kim hired by Manulife AM to head Korea operations
Manulife Asset Management has placed Peter Kim into the role of managing director, head of institutional sales, Korea. The buyside firm has obtained a cross border investment advisory licence in Korea, and Kim will head up the company’s expansion there.
Kim is currently based in Hong Kong and started at Manulife AM in July. He reports to James Chen, head of institutional sales and relationship management for Asia.
Most recently, Kim was director of Lapis Global Limited, based in Hong Kong, but has also been vice president of Woori Global Markets Asia.
Western Asset on Asia fixed income hiring spree
The Singapore-based Asian investment team at Western Asset has made several new hires. Following Chia-Liang Lian’s appointment as head of investment management for Asia ex-Japan in 2011, the asset manager has expanded its fixed income team by four.
Desmond Soon joined as a portfolio manager in June from ST Asset Management. He will be responsible for managing single country portfolios and working on Western Asset’s pan-Asian funds, including the Legg Mason Western Asset Asian Opportunities Fund.
Swee Ching Lim joined in April as a credit research analyst. Previously, Lim worked as a credit analyst at Barclays in London and Morgan Stanley in London and New York. Wontae Kim joined in February as a portfolio analyst, as did Desmond Fu, who joined from APS Komaba.
Western Asset is also in the final stages of appointing another senior credit research analyst to the team.
Mercer hires Teo from Russell Investments
Edmund Teo has been appointed head of Mercer’s wealth management team in Asia. He joins the firm from Russell Investments where he was regional director. Before this, he held senior positions at First State Investments and UOB Asset Management.
The company has also hired Pierre DeGagne as a principal consultant. He previously worked at Standard Chartered, where he was responsible for offshore mutual fund strategy and research for the private banking and retail businesses. Both Teo and DeGagne will be based in Singapore.
Mercer is rebuilding its wealth management team following the departure of Hansi Mehrotra, ex-Asia Pacific head of wealth management consulting, who left last December to join Hubbis as managing director for India. Iris Kao and Desmond Lee have also left Mercer’s wealth management team over the past year.
Hayes heads back to First State Investments
Stephen Hayes has been appointed head of property securities at First State Investments, after leaving the firm in 2006. He originally joined in 1999 and was responsible for establishing and building the global property securities business.
He left in 2006 to join Perennial Real Estate Investments, but is rejoining First State after the departure of Andrew Nicholas. He will be based in Sydney and the role is effective September 10.
Royal Skandia makes Asia hires
Craig Ellis has been appointed head of region and principal officer for Singapore and Southeast Asia at Royal Skandia. He joins the offshore arm of Old Mutual Wealth Management from Allianz, where he was regional head of Asia, life and health.
Chris Ivinson has also been promoted to head of sales for the region and will report to Ellis. Ivinson has worked for Royal Skandia in Singapore since 2006.
In Hong Kong, Alan Leung has joined as head of strategic development for the Hong Kong region, with a focus on local Hong Kong and Chinese distribution. Leung joins the firm from Swiss Privilege and will report to Mike Leeson, head of sales for Hong Kong and North East Asia.