People moves: Hsu swaps HSBC for StanChart

Also: Instinet hires Asia-Pacific CEO, China chief for Citi, IDFC Bank names new chief exec; and others

Standard Chartered’s Raffles Place office

Standard Chartered has poached HSBC’s head of leveraged and acquisition financing for Asia-Pacifc, Lyndon Hsu. Previously based in Hong Kong, Hsu has relocated to Singapore to take up the new role as global head of leveraged and structured solutions at the British lender, beginning on July 1. He reports to Sumit Dayal, Standard Chartered’s global head of corporate finance.

Prior to joining HSBC, Hsu spent 14 years at Credit Suisse, including as head of leveraged finance Asia ex-Japan.

Last month Standard Chartered saw the departure of global head of capital markets solutions Zuo Lesi, who has left to move into fintech. Lesi left the bank on June 30 and Kenneth Kwan has been appointed interim head of capital markets solutions.

Separately, Standard Chartered has lost its director of technology, media and telecoms for Asia, Vishesh Gupta. Gupta has left to join Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation’s Singapore office as its head of technology, media and telecoms for South-east Asia. He spent five years at Standard Chartered, prior to which he worked at JP Morgan in Asia-Pacific for four years in various roles.

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Nomura’s execution service provider Instinet has appointed Stuart Knowling as the company’s new chief executive officer for Asia-Pacific, based in Hong Kong. Knowling has been chief operations officer at the company since 2010. He replaces Tetsuhiro Nishiis, who will take on a new role within the bank as the head of execution services, Asia ex-Japan. Nishiis will continue to be based in Hong Kong.

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Citi has hired Jiang Guorong as head of China corporate and investment banking. Guorong joins from UBS, where he was head of China investment banking and vice-chairman of Asia investment banking.

Separately, Citi has brought on board UBS’s head of Asia-Pacific mergers and acquisitions, Alison Harding-Jones, who will relocate from Hong Kong to London to take up the role of head of mergers and acquisitions in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. She will also hold the title of vice-chairman of corporate and investment banking in the region.

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India’s IDFC Bank has promoted chief financial officer Sunil Kakar to the role of chief executive officer, effective from July 17. Kakar will replace Vikram Limaye who is set to join the National Stock Exchange as its new managing director and CEO.

Before IDFC, Kakar worked as chief financial officer at Max New York Life Insurance Company. He also spent 18 years working at Bank of America in various roles.

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Citic CLSA Securities has appointed Jeremy Sng head of corporate finance and capital markets for Singapore. Sng was previously managing director at TC Capital in Hong Kong and has held positions at Standard Chartered and UBS. He also worked at CLSA as a corporate finance analyst between 2004 and 2006.

Citic Securities International Company Limited and CLSA Limited announced a merger in November last year.

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Niko Asset Management has appointed Rob Scott to the role of global head of operations. Scott was previously head of international operations, technology and operations for Asia-Pacific ex-Japan. The role is newly created, with the aim of achieving better co-ordination across Niko’s international businesses. Scott has relocated to Tokyo from Singapore to take up the position, where he will report to Maho Nakada, global head of operations and technology.

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Allianz has put in place a new Indonesian leadership team, appointing Joos Louwerier as country manager and CEO of Allianz Life Indonesia. Louwerier is currently CEO of Allianz Life Korea. Prior to joining Allianz in 2013, Louwerier held various senior positions with ING in Asia, in the areas of operations, risk management, bancassurance and marketing.

In addition, Handojo Kusuma has been appointed deputy CEO for Allianz Life Indonesia. He will oversee distribution and market management in the country. He is currently based in Singapore as regional chief agency officer.

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Singaporean fund management house Fullerton has named Ken Goh as the head of equities and Vincent Chan as co-head of multi-asset. Goh was previously the managing director and CEO of CIMB Principal Asset Management in Singapore. He becomes responsible for leading and managing the equities team in Singapore, as well as overseas. Chan has moved from Schroders where he was head of multi-asset strategy, Asia.

In addition Guat Cheng has been appointed the head of fixed income at Fullerton after 14 years with the fund manager. She will be responsible for overseeing all fixed-income strategies, concurrently with her role managing Asian local currency bond and fixed-income absolute return strategies.

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BNP Paribas has named Mark Speciale as Asia-Pacific head of institutional sales in its asset management arm. Speciale will be based in Singapore and will report to Ligia Torres, BNP Paribas Asset Management’s Asia-Pacific chief executive. Before joining BNPP, Speciale was head of distribution for Asia-Pacific at BNY Mellon Singapore. BNPP also recently announced the appointment of Christian Bucaro as head of wholesale distribution in Asia-Pacific.

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The Reserve Bank of India has lost the head of its strategic research unit after she left the institution to take up a post at the International Monetary Fund. Prachi Mishra has returned to an economist role in the fund’s monetary and capital markets department, a post she held back in 2014 before moving to India’s central bank.