People: ASX drafts in Stevens to replace ousted chief executive

Dominic Stevens new chief exec at Aussie exchange; SG's prime services Japan hire; new CROs for Axa and Allianz; and others

Elmer Funke Kupper: fighting corruption allegations

Australia's largest exchange, ASX, has appointed Dominic Stevens as its new chief executive to replace Elmer Funke Kupper, who was forced to quit following allegations he knew of a $200,000 payment to the family of Cambodian prime minister Hun Sen in his previous role heading up Australian gambling firm Tabcorp.

Stevens has been an independent non-executive director at ASX since December 2013 and he has served on the audit and risk committee, and on a number of the exchange's clearing and settlement boards. Stevens has nearly 30 years' financial market experience, having been CEO of local asset manager Challenger from 2008 to 2012, before which he was the deputy CEO and head of capital, risk and strategy. Prior to this, Stevens held senior positions during a long career at Bankers Trust Australia.

Funke Kupper denies any impropriety relating to payments to the Cambodian premier and said he was quitting ASX to focus fully on the allegations.

 

Societe Generale has installed Ramir Cimafranca as head of prime services for its Japan business. He will be based in Tokyo and report locally to James Shekerdemian, head of prime services, Asia-Pacific and global head of prime brokerage sales. Cimafranca will develop the French bank's Japan prime services business which is made up of prime brokerage and clearing, global execution services and cross-asset secured financing.

Cimafranca has over a quarter century of experience in both derivatives and cash equities, mostly with Societe Generale in Japan. He started in 1990 as a broker for Japanese government bond and Euroyen futures and options. In 1998, he joined SG Securities Japan (then known as Fimat) as a sales manager for index derivatives and cash equities. In 2008, he became head of listed derivatives when Fimat merged into Newedge Japan Securities. In 2010, he took on a regional role as head of institutional sales for Newedge in Hong Kong, before joining Societe Generale in Hong Kong in 2015 following the integration of Newedge.

 

Both Allianz and Axa have appointed new chief risk officers for the Asia region. The German insurer has given the nod for Diego Rios to be its new Asia-Pacific CRO; he will lead and develop the risk management practice for the insurer in the region. Rios has over a decade's experience in risk management, and most recently served as Asia head of risk with Italian insurer Generali.

Rios will be based in Allianz's regional headquarters in Singapore, reporting to regional CFO Renate Wagner. Diego holds masters in insurance and risk management from the MIB School of Business in Trieste, and also previously worked in Allianz Italy.

French insurer Axa Asia has made Annie Tay its regional CRO, reporting directly to Jean-Louis Laurent Josi, chief executive for the group's Asia-Pacific business. Prior to joining Axa Asia in August 2016, Tay was director and CEO of Cubic Risk Solutions, a risk and actuarial management consulting firm she founded in 2010, that provided executive, interim and change management services to multinational and private equity firms. She has previously worked across the industry in senior positions at MetLife Group, Tillinghast and AM Best Europe.

 

Crédit Agricole has appointed Francois Martin as country head for Hong Kong, and he will be tasked with leading business development and strategy for the dealer's local activities. Martin has over 30 years of experience in the corporate and investment banking industry. He has worked at Crédit Agricole since 1986 and has held various senior positions across the firm's global business in Paris, New York and Warsaw. Most recently, he was global head of oil and gas sector. Martin will report to Michel Roy, senior regional officer for Asia-Pacific.

 

Gunnar Hoest, former head of Asia-Pacific commodity derivatives at BNP Paribas, has started a structured commodity finance business in Singapore.

Clearstar Commodities began doing business in July. Hoest, its managing director, launched the firm with three other founding partners: Mike Scott, who has assumed the role of chairman; and Leroy Lim and Chris Hong, who are both directors. The new venture will "act as a bridge between banks and external investors on one hand, and commodity market participants on the other", Hoest tells Risk.net.

The firm's sister company, Clearsource, is a Singapore-based physical commodities trading firm which was launched in 2012 by Scott, who previously worked at Netherlands-based trading house Trafigura.

Hoest left BNP Paribas at the beginning of this year. Prior to joining the company in 2013, he was head of Asia commodities at Deutsche Bank, and earlier held a similar role at Credit Suisse.

 

Jing Wu, a former risk manager in Deutsche Bank's commodities business, has joined Cofco Agri as its chief risk officer, according to a source familiar with the situation. Geneva-based Wu started his new role in July.

Cofco Agri is the international agricultural commodities trading unit of Chinese food giant Cofco. The state-owned holding company has owned 100% of Cofco Agri since March, when it bought the 49% stake of Hong Kong-based trading house Noble Group.

Wu left Deutsche earlier this year. He had been global head of commodities market risk management until the German bank wound down its commodities business in 2014. Earlier in his career, he held market risk roles at JP Morgan, Lehman Brothers and Nomura. Wu declined to comment on his move, while Cofco Agri did not respond to requests for comment.