People on the Move: July 12-16

Buyside

Ben Meng was named APAC Chairman at Franklin Templeton, effective July 15. Before joining Franklin Templeton, Meng was chief divestment officer for the California Public Employee Retirement System (Calpers).

Rod Paris, CIO of Abrdn, is retiring from the firm by the end of the year. The firm is not hiring a new CIO and the heads of public markets, real assets, solutions and central investments will report directly to CEO Stephen Bird.

Douglas Forsyth, Allianz Global Investment’s CIO of US income and growth, is leaving the firm in March 2022. Justin Kass was named as CIO of the unit, co-heading with Brit Stickney.

Columbia Threadneedle appointed Melda Mergen as Global Head of Equities. Mergen will continue to co-manage the firm’s several large-cap equity strategies when she takes over her new post.

Melissa McDonald, Head of Responsible Investment of HSBC Global Asset Management, is leaving the firm in August. Erin Leonard was appointed as replacement. Leonard held various senior leadership roles at the firm, most recently as interim global head of institutional business, and also led the firm’s responsible investment initiative.

Tom Leake joined Capstone Investment Advisors as Head of its Solutions platform in London. Prior to this, Leake was a partner for markets division and global head of the systematic trading strategies at Goldman Sachs.

Russell Investments named Simon Partridge as U.K. Head of Fiduciary Management Solutions. He will lead the firm’s institutional team to manage new and existing client relationships including the growth of the outsourced CIO business. Partridge previously co-founded BlackRock’s OCIO team.

Citadel appointed Sean Murphy as an Equities Portfolio Manager and Brian Johnston as an FX Portfolio Manager. Murphy joins from Carlson Capital as event driven analyst. Prior to Citadel, Johnston worked for Wellington Management.

BlackRock Real Assets appointed Valerie Speth as a Managing Director for the firm’s Asia Pacific renewable power team. Speth previously served as regional director for Asia Pacific at juwi AG, a German firm focused on turnkey renewable power projects.

Jamie Hammond was appointed Deputy CEO, Head of Distribution for Europe, the Middle East and Africa at iM Global Partner. Before that, Hammond was CEO and head of EMEA client group at AllianceBernstein.

Oaktree Capital Management named Priya Prasad Bowe as Senior Vice President and Head of ESG. Bowe was the firm’s credit product specialist at the alternative money manager since 2019.

Schroders appointed Mervyn Tang as Head of Sustainability Strategy, Asia Pacific at Schroders. Tang previously served as global head of ESG research in the sustainable finance division at Fitch Ratings.

Silver Creek Capital Management named Brendan Connor as a Managing Director at Silver Creek Capital Management. He is currently the firm’s portfolio manager for hedge fund strategies.

Matthew Henly joined Invesco as a Portfolio Manager for the firm’s fixed income team. He will focus on insurance and pension clients. Before that, Henly was a lead portfolio at Aberdeen Standard Investments.

DWS Group named Vanessa Wang as Head of Client Coverage, Asia Pacific. Wang joins from Amundi where she was senior managing director and head of institutional business in the U.S.

Miyuki Kashima joined Fidelity International as Head of Investments, Japan. Kashima was previously head of Japanese equity investments at BNY Mellon Investment Management.

Private Banking / Wealth Management

Lillian Liao was named Global Market Head for China at Citi Private Bank. Liao joins from Credit Suisse where she spent almost 13 years last as a managing director and senior client partner. Meanwhile, Jonathan Gan also joined the bank as South Asia Head of Private Capital Group. Most recently, Gan was at HSBC where he spent the last 10 years in the corporate bank.

Koh Bee Eng joined J.P. Morgan Private Bank as Head of J.P. Morgan Trust Company Singapore. Before that, Koh was a director of Credit Suisse Trust Limited in Singapore.

IBD / Capital Markets

Commerzbank appointed Jack Jiang as new Asia Head of Capital Markets and Advisory. He retains his responsibilities in managing the bank’s global emerging markets FX and rates business.

Credit Suisse named Janice Hu as CEO of China. Hu has been with the firm for 20 years and has held various senior roles across the China franchise, including Vice Chairwoman of Credit Suisse China and Head of China Investment Banking.

Insurance

Junior Cho was named Country Head of Zurich Malaysia. He joined the firm in 2016 and was appointed CEO of Zurich General Insurance Malaysia in 2019 and will continue to hold that role concurrently.

Chubb appointed Edward Kopp as Country President for General Insurance business in South Korea. Kopp joined the firm in 2012. He has more than 25 years of experience in the financial services industry, including expertise in distribution, product development, underwriting and channel management.