People moves: Natixis appoints new head of Apac global markets

Singapore MP joins Ice; FastMatch hires sales chief; RBNZ's new risk assessment head

Natixis moves Emmanuel Lefort to Hong Kong for new role

Emmanuel Lefort has suceeed Serge Ekué as head of global markets Asia-Pacific for French lender Natixis. Lefort will retain his current role of head of global structured credit and solutions.

Lefort reports to Luc François, head of global markets, and Alain Gallois, chief executive for corporate and investment banking, Asia-Pacific. Previously based in London, Lefort has now relocated to Hong Kong.

Ekué has been named senior country manager for the UK and head of global markets for Europe, Middle East and Africa. Ekué will be based in London. Previously, Ekué served as the bank's Asia-Pacific head of global markets in Hong Kong, overseeing Natixis's capital markets activities in the region.

Ekué reports to François and to Pierre-Henri Denain, chief executive for Europe, Middle East and Africa. Over the past 20 years, Ekué has served in a number of trading, sales and risk management roles. He started his career in foreign exchange sales at Crédit Agricole.

 

Lee Yi Shyan has been appointed chairman of Ice Futures Singapore and Ice Clear Singapore. He currently serves as a member of parliament in Singapore. His previous positions in government included senior minister of state in the ministries of trade and industry, national development, and manpower.

 

FastMatch has hired Trent Beacroft from rival Bats Hotspot, as the foreign exchange platform pushes ahead with plans to expand its sales distribution to Asia.

Beacroft begins his new role as managing director of sales on February 1, based in Singapore. He will be responsible for targeting the institutional platform's products to tier one Asian banks, hedge funds, brokers and asset managers.

Beacroft reports to FastMatch's global head of sales, Paul Ainsworth.

"This is our first hire in Asia and we are planning to hire more. [The hope is] to have two or three people in Asia by the end of the year," says Dmitri Galinov, chief executive of FastMatch.

While the firm has not decided where the other planned hires will be located, Australia and China are under consideration.

Beacroft spent the last eight years as head of Asia-Pacific for Hotspot, which is part of Bats Global Markets. There, he oversaw product sales, distribution and development.

Before Hotspot, Beacroft held several senior sales and trading roles in foreign exchange and rates at other institutions throughout Asia-Pacific. He started his career at Westpac in Sydney.

 

The Reserve Bank of New Zealand has appointed Patrick Hoerler as head of the risk assessment and assurance unit, the role vacated by Steve Gordon when he took on responsibility for currency, property and security in March 2016.

Hoerler will now be responsible for identifying and monitoring any financial, operational or reputational risk the central bank could face. His department is also responsible for internal audit and legal provisions; he will report to governor Graeme Wheeler and deputy governor Geoff Bascand.

Hoerler previously worked at energy company Mercury and has an international banking background, having held roles at Credit Suisse and Zurich Kantonbank in the US and Asia. He later moved to New Zealand to work as treasurer for food company Enza.

The central bank has also appointed Klarissa Plimmer as chief information officer.

Plimmer will be responsible for managing the bank's main technology infrastructure, and providing web support and business analysis to various departments.

Before joining the central bank, Plimmer worked as the director for information and computer technology (ICT) solutions at the New Zealand Defence Force. She also has 13 years' experience working for the Bank of New Zealand, where she held a number of roles in the ICT department.

 

US economist Charles Engel has been appointed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore – in conjunction with the National University of Singapore (NUS) – as the MAS term professor for economics and finance.

Engel will be affiliated to the NUS Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences' department of economics and the economic policy group at the MAS during the term of the professorship. Spanning a broad range of topics, Engel's research includes analysis of open economy macroeconomics and international finance. He is also recognised for his work on exchange rates.

"Engel has researched extensively on exchange rates – an area of direct relevance for a small open economy like Singapore – during an illustrious research, teaching and consulting career," says Edward Robinson, chief economist at the MAS.

 

Sherry Madera, the minister-counsellor and deputy director-general at the UK embassy in Beijing, is joining City of London Corporation as its special adviser for Asia.

Madera, who has been based in China for the past two-and-a-half years, joins City of London from the UK Department of International Trade, where she was responsible for promoting trade and investment between the UK and China.

As part of her new role, Madera will develop the City's relations with its partners in Asia, particularly China, India and Singapore, to support the work of lord mayor Andrew Parmley and City of London policy chairman Mark Boleat. Madera will lead the corporation's offices in Beijing, Shanghai and Mumba in promoting London as a world-leading financial and business hub.