Generali
Jack Howell has resigned as chief executive of Generali Asia to seek other opportunities, a spokesperson for the company has confirmed.
Howell joined Generali in April 2015 from Prudential where he was chief executive of Prudential Assurance Vietnam. He was chairman and chief executive of Philippines-based insurance company Philam Plans before moving to Prudential in 2008.
Schroders
Thomas See is to step down from his role as head of structured finance following the merger of Schroders’ business division and portfolio solutions platform, which will see his role disappear.
Mike Hodgson, head of risk managed investments and structuring, will take up the reins of the newly combined platform and assume See’s prior responsibilities.
Standard Chartered
The International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) José Viñals will join the board of Standard Chartered as chairman designate on 3 October 2016, succeeding Sir John Pearce when he steps down as director and chairman on 1 December.
Viñals is currently the financial counsellor and director of the Monetary and Capital Markets Department of the IMF. His responsibilities include the oversight and direction of the IMF’s monetary and financial sector work, and he is the IMF’s chief spokesman on financial matters, including global financial stability. He was a member of the Plenary and Steering Committee of the Financial Stability Board for seven years, playing a key role in the reform of international financial regulation.
Further, Vivian Chan has been appointed private banking regional head for greater China and north Asia, effective January 2017. Based in Hong Kong she will report to Didier von Daeniken, global head of private banking and wealth management. She replaces Desmond Lui who will retire from the bank at the end of 2016 after 30 years in private banking.
In her new role, Chan will be responsible for leading the private banking team and growing the business, with a strategic focus on Hong Kong as a core global wealth hub. She joins Standard Chartered from Barclays, where she was the firm’s private banking regional head for north Asia, having previously held senior leadership roles at Credit Suisse and Citibank.
BNP Paribas Investment Partners
BNP PIP has appointed Jean-Charles ‘JC’ Sambor as deputy head of emerging market fixed income. Based in London he will report to L. Bryan Carter, head of emerging market fixed income. In this new role, Sambor will support Carter in the management of all portfolios and the ongoing development and implementation of the investment process.
He brings with him 15 years’ experience of emerging markets, covering research, strategy, portfolio management and risk management, and has had a strong focus on Asia throughout much of his career. He joins from the Institute of International Finance (IIF), where he was Asia Pacific regional director and chief executive of IIF APAC, based in Singapore, advising central banks, government policy makers, supranational organisations, asset managers and regulators.
DBS Private Bank
Joseph Poon is to leave UBS Wealth Management to take up the role of regional head of southeast Asia for DBS Private Bank, effective 16 August. He will report to Lawrence Lua, who has been promoted to deputy head of DBS Private Bank.
Poon was the head of UBS Wealth Management for ultra-high net worth and global family office businesses for southeast Asia. Prior to that, he held various senior positions at several private banks, including Julius Baer, Macquarie Private Bank Asia, and JPMorgan Singapore.
Nedgroup
Robin Johnson has left his role as head of portfolio management EMEA at Morningstar Investment Management to join Nedgroup in South Africa. Johnson had been with Morningstar for nearly a decade, having joined rom Mellon Global Investors in 2007.
At Nedgroup, Johnson will assume the role of head of investments, in charge of the firm’s “Best of Breed” range of investment solutions.
Jupiter
Magnus Spence has been appointed to the new role of head of investments, alternatives at Jupiter. Joining on 30 August, Spence will be responsible for developing and expanding Jupiter’s capability in what it views as a “strategically important asset class”.
Prior to taking up the role, Spence was head of product at Fidante Partners (formerly Dexion Capital plc), a position he took up in early 2015. During a 15-year career he has also helped found Dalton Strategic Partnership of which he was chief executive and managing partner from 2011 to 2014.
PraxisIFM
PraxisIFM Trust has appointed two of its client relationship directors to the board in Guernsey. Paul Blackwell and Rupert Pleasant have joined the seven-strong board and will be involved in the future strategic direction of the company.
Blackwell, who is a member of the Chartered Institute of Taxation, joined Confiance in June 2012 to develop the company’s fiduciary and pension services business and joined PraxisIFM when it acquired Confiance in December. Having previously led Deloitte’s Private Client Tax Department across the Channel Islands, he has almost 15 years’ experience of advising on offshore structures.
Pleasant started his career in private banking in Hong Kong where he spent four years before moving to South Africa where he completed an MBA and went on to become an area manager with Barclays Wealth Management in Cape Town.
Rowan Dartington
Rowan Dartington has appointed three new investment managers in London, Manchester and Liverpool, as well as an equity research analyst in London and a stockbroker in Bristol, as part of its recruitment drive to support its rapid expansion throughout the UK.
In Manchester, Johnny Arthur is joining the firm from Hanson Asset Management where he was head of investment management for two years, while in Liverpool, David McNiven is joining from Quilter Cheviot after four years as investment director.
In London, Rowan Dartington is adding two members to its fast growing team with new investment manager Gregg McAlister from RBC Wealth Management and equity research analyst Andrew Wace, joining from Axa Investment Managers where he covered the retail, tobacco, aerospace & defence and engineering sectors.
