Asset Management
Matthias Born has been named Chief Investment Officer of equities at Berenberg. Peter Kraus will also join in October, taking over the leadership of Berenberg’s small- and midcap team. Messrs. Born and Kraus both join from Allianz Global Investors, where they were co-lead Portfolio Manager and Senior Portfolio Manager, respectively, of European micro-, small- and midcaps.
— 000 —
Quaero Capital has appointed James Hepworth as Head of Sales for UK. Hepworth joins Quaero Capital in April from Paris-based Asset Managers & Advisors Cie, where he was a Founder and Managing Director from 2009.
— 000 —
Joe Linhares has joined Russell Investments from BlackRock to take on the role of Head of Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA). He was most recently Global Head of Platinum Accounts, and has also lead the iShares exchange-traded fund business in EMEA.
— 000 —
Muzinich & Co has hired Jan Henrik Reichenbach as Head of Private Debt for Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. He joins the firm’s Frankfurt office from Ernst & Young, where he was a Partner in the group’s Capital and Debt Advisory team.
— 000 —
State Street Global Advisors, the Asset Management arm of State Street Corp, has named Amlan Roy Global Chief Retirement Strategist. Roy most recently served as Head of Global Demographics and Pensions Research at Credit Suisse.
— 000 —
Back / Middle Office
The long-standing operations Chief for BlackRock’s Asia-Pacific business, Michael Marquardt, has left to pursue other opportunities. He had worked for the world’s biggest asset manager (and its predecessor firm, Barclays Global Investors) for nearly 17 years, the last seven as Asia-Pacific Chief Operating Officer. As of March 31 Andy Reynolds has assumed that post, in addition to being Regional Chief Financial Officer and Head of Corporate Strategy.
— 000 —
Commerzbank has appointed Joerg Motel as its new Head of Corporate Banking operations across southeast Asia, based in Singapore. Motel, who has been with Commerzbank since 2008, was previously Head of Financial institutions for Asia. That role will be taken by Jochen Mueller, who was previously country manager for UK corporates in the Corporates International division since 2013.
— 000 —
Markov Processes International (MPI) has announced the appointment of Bijan Foroodian. Foroodian will be serving as the Managing Director of EMEA for MPI. Prior to MPI, he was Chief Investment Officer for Inflection Point Capital Management and, before that, Innovest Strategic Value Advisors acting as Chief Investment Officer and Managing Director.
— 000 —
Tikehau Capital has appointed Peter Cirenza as Head of London Operations. He has been a member of Tikehau’s advisory board since 2005. He previously had a 20-year career at Goldman Sachs, and has been a lecturer at the London School of Economics since 2009.
— 000 —
Family Office
Douglas Cohen has been named Managing Director at Athena Capital Advisors. Mr. Cohen will provide investment advisory services including asset allocation, portfolio construction and other portfolio management-related services. Mr. Cohen was previously a Founding Partner and Portfolio Manager at Eachwin Capital.
— 000 —
Fintech
Lykke, a Swiss Fintech company building a global blockchain-powered marketplace, has hired Seamus Donoghue as Head of its Singapore office. Donoghue was most recently Chief Executive Officer of Allocated Bullion Solutions, and has held positions at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Barclays, Deutsche Bank, and JP Morgan.
— 000 —
Hedge Funds
Diversified alternative asset manager BlueMountain Capital Management has named former Eisenstat Capital Partners Executive Rollo Wigan as Client Adviser in the firm’s London office. In his new role, Wigan will support ongoing client and business development activities for BlueMountain across Europe, the Middle East and Australia. Wigan joins BlueMountain from his most recent position as Managing Director and Head of Marketing and Investor Relations at Eisenstat Capital Partners.
— 000 —
IBD/Capital Markets
The British bank’s Global Head of Sales and Client Management, George Nast, is to leave the bank amid a reshuffle of its transaction banking operation. The departure comes after StanChart moved to a new coverage model in which all coverage teams report into Paul Skelton, Global Head of Global Banking, in Singapore. Prior to joining StanChart in 2009, Nast spent 12 years as a Partner at consultant McKinsey & Company.
— 000 —
HSBC has appointed an industry veteran and former Senior Mondelez International Executive, Leanne Cutts, as its new Group Head of Marketing. Cutts was President for Gum, Candy and Beverages in Asia-Pacific, the Middle East and Africa at Mondelez from October 2016, based in Tokyo. She joined the snacks company in 2011 as Vice-President of Marketing for Asia-Pacific, relocating to Japan from Singapore two years later as National President and Managing Director. Cutts will succeed Chris Clark, who is leaving the bank after 15 years.
— 000 —
Insurance
AIA has appointed Peter Crewe as its new Chief Executive Officer for Hong Kong and Macau. He will take over from current CEO Jacky Chan, who has been promoted to Regional Chief Executive of AIA Group overseeing AIA’s operations in Hong Kong and Macau, Singapore and Brunei, Indonesia, the Philippines and Cambodia. Chan will also have oversight of Group Agency Distribution.
— 000 —
Jacky Chan, currently CEO of AIA Hong Kong and Macau, will replace Gordon Watson as Regional Chief Executive. Chan will be responsible for AIA’s operations in Hong Kong and Macau, Singapore and Brunei, Indonesia, the Philippines and Cambodia as well as Group Agency Distribution effective from 1 June 2017. He has been with AIA for 29 years and has been CEO of AIA Hong Kong and Macau since 2009.
— 000 —
Market Infrastructure
Leading international law firm Clifford Chance today announced the promotion of 24 lawyers from its partnership, including Dr. Sam Luttrell (Perth), Lena Ng (Singapore), Natsuko Sugihara (Tokyo), along with David Tsai and Terry Yang (Hong Kong). These promotions will take effect from 1 May 2017.
— 000 —
Private Banking/Wealth Management
The former and long-standing Asia Chief of Julius Baer, Thomas “Tom” Meier, will leave the company at the end of October 2017. The lawyer, promoted in Zurich, joined the banking sector with Credit Suisse in 1988, where he began his career in Zurich and Lausanne, and later in Singapore and Hong Kong. Meier remains a member of the Board of Directors of the Julius Baer Foundation and as a Consultant for corporate sustainability issues.
— 000 —
The private banking division of Societe Generale in Switzerland has named Luca Vari Head of the Ultra High Net Worth Individuals (UHNWI) unit. Vari previously served as Head of Investment Banking at JCI Capital in Milan.
— 000 —
Private equity firm Oakley Capital Ltd said Ralf Schremper would join as a Partner, effective August, to help build the firm’s presence in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Schremper will join from ProSiebenSat.1 Media, a German media and digital group, where he is Chief Strategy and Investment Officer.
— 000 —
Sellside – Sales; Trading; Structuring; Research
Swap execution facility TrueEX has hired Chris Yoshida, a former Head of Rates Sales at Deutsche Bank and Morgan Stanley, to head Sales, Marketing and Strategy. Yoshida brings more than 15 years of senior level industry experience to the platform as it gears up for expansion across the US, Europe and Asia.
— 000 —
JP Morgan Chase & Co has hired Andrew Tanner and Steve Maartensz as Co-Heads of Equity Distribution and Dyson Bowditch as Head of Syndicate for Australia and New Zealand. All the three new hires will be joining the bank at the end of July.