On the move

A roundup of job moves in banks, regulators, investors and vendors in the Asia region

In a move that would boost its listed commodity futures business globally, interdealer broker Icap says it has formed a new team of agricultural and soft commodity brokers in Australia led by a former broker who joined from failed futures broker MF Global.

Based in Sydney, the team of three brokers is led by Gary Booth, formerly of MF Global. The interdealer broker says it will deal in both exchange-traded and over-the-counter agricultural products which include grains, wool, cotton and sugar to grain handlers, producers, exporters, trading houses, banks and hedge funds. The team will also offer broking services in cotton, soya beans, corn milk, cocoa, coffee, canola and sorghum.

Agricultural and soft commodities brokering is not new to Icap, as its brokers in New York, Chicago, London, Sao Paulo and Louisville already cover such asset class but in Australia Icap did not previously cover them.

In fact, senior management told Asia Risk when they were in Hong Kong in January that close to 40 MF Global former employees were recently recruited – these include 20 in London, 10 in New York, five in Sydney and two in Singapore. Senior management said the recruitment represents Icap’s move to boost its listed futures business globally.

Through its United Energy division, Icap has been executing energy futures on CME and Ice, offering execution through both open outcry floor trading and electronic trading. It also offers execution and clearing services on base metals trading on LME.



BNP Paribas has promoted Miles Remington to the role of head of equities, Indonesia based in Jakarta. Since joining BNP Paribas in Hong Kong in 2002, Remington has held various senior positions within the bank including global head of sales trading and head of multi-product client solutions for the bank’s equity brokerage business.

In his new position, Remington will drive the Indonesia distribution franchise, which will see him promote the bank’s global equity research capabilities to Indonesia clients and sell Indonesia equity products to global investors.



ING Investment Management has hired Patrick Chia as its head of Asian fixed income, based in Singapore. Chia joined from global asset manager Amundi, where he was the head of fixed income and currencies for Asia-Pacific.

Aside from leading ING’s Asian fixed income desk, Chia will also contribute to the firm’s global emerging market debt team. Prior to Amundi, Chia managed fixed income for the sovereign wealth fund under the Monetary Authority of Singapore, and managed fixed income with other banks such as Standard Chartered and OCBC.



State Street has hired Dan McNicholas as head of sales for alternative investment servicing solutions in Asia-Pacific as part of the asset management firm’s move to ramp up its alternative investment services capabilities. McNicholas joined State Street from Bank of America Merrill Lynch, where he most recently worked as head of financing sales for global markets financing and futures in the Asia-Pacific region.

Based in Hong Kong, McNicholas will lead sales strategy for the hedge fund servicing, real estate and private equity operations across Asia-Pacific. He will also develop sales strategies for the firm’s alternative investment capabilities. McNicholas reports to Maria Cantillon, State Street’s global head of alternative investment servicing sales.

The US asset manager and trust bank started its alternative funds service after it acquired Mourant International Finance Administration (MIFA), which operates in Hong Kong and Singapore, in 2010. MIFA was a provider of fund administration services for hedge funds, private equity and real estate. McNicholas has also worked for Lehman Brothers and Deutsche Bank.



Macquarie has appointed Alex Harvey as the bank’s Asia chief executive, based in Hong Kong, in a newly created role. Harvey joined Macquarie in 1999 from Bankers Trust, and was most recently the global head of the bank’s telecommunications, media, entertainment and technology group. With over 15 years’ experience in the financial services industry, he has worked in equity, debt and advisory services in Australia, Asia, Europe and the US.



JP Morgan has promoted Pranav Thakur to head of fixed income for emerging Asia (ex-Japan, ex-Australia). Based in Hong Kong, Thakur will lead the bank’s emerging Asia fixed income team which currently operates in 11 markets in the region. Thakur reports to James Kenny, London-based head of global emerging markets, and regionally to Gaby Abdelnour, chairman and CEO for Asia-Pacific.

Thakur joined JP Morgan in 2007. He was appointed head of trading for emerging Asia fixed income at the US investment bank in 2011. Before joining JP Morgan, Thakur was head of trading for southeast Asia at Barclays Capital.

Thakur replaces Tarun Mahrotri, global co-head of emerging markets and head of fixed income for Asia, who left the bank in January. Mahrotri joined JP Morgan in 2006 as head of credit, rates and foreign exchange in Asia before his most recent role as global co-head of the emerging markets business.



Index compiler MSCI, which also provides investment management and risk analytics solutions, has hired Kazuya Nagasawa as its Japan head, replacing Philippe Ballet, who resigned from the company in February.

Nagasawa reports to managing director and global head of client coverage marketing, Baer Pettit. Prior to MSCI, Nagasawa worked for Goldman Sachs Asset Management’s quantitative investment strategies group and was on the executive committee of Goldman’s asset management arm in Japan. Prior to joining Goldman in 1998, Nagasawa worked at Meiji Life Insurance for four years.



Hang Seng Bank’s chief risk officer David Tam, who joined the bank in 1999, resigned in February. He will be replaced by Tang Nai Pan, who joined Hang Seng in August 2011 from Shanghai Pudong Development Bank.

While an official announcement has not been made, executives close to Tam say the 61-year-old banking veteran has retired from the banking sector. Tam ascended to his last position via various senior roles, including deputy general manager and head of commercial banking for Greater China, and assistant general manager of corporate banking – trade finance.

Tang was the general manager and advisor to Shanghai Pudong Development Bank’s global markets and corporate treasury division. Previous roles include head of market risk, North Asia for Citibank (Hong Kong), and managing director of treasury and risk management for DBS Bank in Singapore. Tang has also been an assistant professor in finance for the Chinese University of Hong Kong and McGill University in Canada.



HSBC has appointed Paul Gooding as head of European renminbi business development to lead the bank’s effort in developing London as an offshore renminbi centre. Efforts are under way to promote London as a complementary centre to Hong Kong, which already has an established role as China’s pre-eminent offshore renminbi centre. Since 2009, Beijing has launched various policies and implemented them in the Special Administrative Region of Hong Kong as part of its goal to internationalise the renminbi.

Gooding will spearhead various initiatives in partnership with the UK public sector and private sector banks to facilitate the City of London’s initiative to become an offshore renminbi centre.

Gooding’s appointment came after UK chancellor of the exchequer George Osborne signed a deal with the Hong Kong Monetary Authority to launch a joint private-sector forum for enhancing co-operation between Hong Kong and London on the development of offshore renminbi business, with a special focus on clearing and settlement systems, and market liquidity and development of renminbi-denominated financial products.

Prior to this appointment, Gooding was head of HSBC’s European credit trading business for seven years. He reports to Spencer Lake, HSBC’s co-head of global markets in the UK. Before joining HSBC, Gooding worked for Credit Suisse as head of cash credit trading for five years.



China Construction Bank has promoted Hu Changmiao as the president of the bank’s Guangxi branch. Officials at the bank say Hu, who prior to the January promotion was the general manager of the bank’s public relations and corporate culture department based in Beijing, has since been relocated to Guangxi to head the bank’s local operations, which currently employ 6,000 staff members.

Promotion among state-owned commercial banks in China, such as China Construction Bank, often takes the form of rotation among provinces and across divisions within the banking group. In his former role at the bank’s headquarters, Hu worked closely with senior management and was instrumental in promoting greater transparency of the Chinese bank through western media. China Construction Bank shares are listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange as H shares, and A shares on the Shanghai Stock Exchange.