Asia moves: HSBC hires Singapore liquidity chief, StanChart picks Asean head, and more

HSBC Singapore has appointed David Koh as the bank’s new head of global liquidity and cash management (GLCM). Koh joins from Standard Chartered, where he was most recently head of Greater China and north Asia. Prior to working at Standard Chartered, he headed the corporate and transaction banking teams for Deutsche Bank in China.

Koh began his career at HSBC as part of the bank’s executive trainee development programme. Koh jointly reports to Alan Turner, head of commercial banking at HSBC Singapore, and to Kee Joo Wong, regional head of GLCM for Asia-Pacific. 

Standard Chartered Private Bank has hired Cedric Lizin as regional head of Asean (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) and South Asia, subject to regulatory approval. 

Lizin, who will be based in Singapore, replaces Srinivas Siripurapu, who left the bank to spend time with his family in India. Lizin joins from UBS, where he was most recently head of wealth management and senior executive officer for Dubai.

MSCI has appointed Doug Walls as head of index products for Asia. Walls replaces Ted Niggli, who moves to a newly-created global role within the company as head of One MSCI Commercial Programs, which will focus on commercial innovation within the company. 

Walls has held senior positions during a 20-plus-year tenure in the Asia-Pacific region, at various global asset management companies. Most recently, he was head of Asia-Pacific product development and management for Fidelity. Walls will be based in Hong Kong and will report to Diana Tidd, global head of index. 

Niggli will continue to be based in Shanghai.

Deutsche Bank Wealth Management has appointed Rajesh Mahadevan as head of its global products and solutions for emerging markets. Mahadevan is currently the global South Asia group head for the Middle East region at the bank, based in Dubai. 

He will relocate to Singapore in January to take up the new position. Prior to joining Deutsche Bank, Mahadevan was head of investment and sales for the Middle East at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. He was also previously head of investment products at Citigroup.

Swiss private bank Julius Baer has hired Salman Hamid as a director to bolster the non-resident Indian market in Singapore. Hamid joins from HSBC in Singapore, where he most recently was a vice-president and investment specialist at the firm’s private bank.

US investment management firm Legg Mason has appointed Andy Sowerby as head of Asia-Pacific, ex-Japan. Sowerby continues to hold the company’s position as Australia and New Zealand head, a role he has held since 2016. 

The main task for his new role is to continue to strengthen the firm’s presence across the region. Sowerby replaces Lennie Lim, who will retire at the end of March next year after 12 years with the firm. 

Lim will handing over his duties to Sowerby over the next few months.

The SMSF Association Board, which represents Australia’s self-managed superannuation funds, has appointed Robin Bowerman as its new chair. Bowerman, who is head of corporate affairs at Vanguard Investments, has been vice-chair of the association for the past three years and a board member since 2011. 

He replaces Deborah Ralston, who resigned the position following her appointment to the three-member Retirement Income Review panel that the Australian treasury set up in September. 

Singaporean sovereign wealth fund GIC has appointed former Goldman Sachs executive Owi Ruivivar as a senior managing director, overseeing long-term macroeconomic strategy. Ruivivar was with Goldman Sachs for 17 years before leaving the US bank in June. 

Her most recent position with the firm was as managing director of emerging markets fixed income. She was one of the three founding members of the Goldman Sachs Asset Management’s emerging market debt franchise.

Contineo has hired Franck Lerat as chief technology officer, responsible for the technological evolution of the firm’s structured products platform. 

Lerat joins from HSBC, where he was most recently global head of equity derivatives IT. He was previously co-head of equity derivatives IT at JP Morgan. Lerat has a total of 25 years’ experience in equity derivatives technology.

PwC has appointed Paul Pak as head of its Singapore asset and wealth management practice. Pak has been with PwC since 1997, most recently as PwC Singapore’s risk, regulations and compliance leader – a post that he has held since 2012. 

Pak replaces Justin Ong, who has led the practice since 2006. Ong continues to serve as PwC Singapore financial services assurance leader, a role he took over last year.