Asia moves: CBA overhauls leadership team, HK regulator reappoints directors, and more

Latest job changes across the industry

Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) has announced an overhaul of its leadership team, just over two months since Matt Comyn took over as chief executive.

Nigel Williams becomes chief risk officer (CRO) as of November 5. He has more than 30 years’ experience in banking, and was previously CRO at ANZ Bank.

Current CRO David Cohen will assume the role of deputy CEO from November 5. He will be responsible for strengthening customer relations, leading the demerger of the Colonial First State Group, and the mergers and acquisitions team.

Pascal Boillat has been appointed group executive enterprise services and chief information officer (CIO), with responsibility for all technology and operations across the CBA. He will join on October 1, and has more than 30 years of industry experience, most recently at Deutsche Bank, where he was global CIO.

Nigel Williams, CBA

Sian Lewis has been appointed group executive for human resources, effective from August 1. She joined CBA in 2014, and currently leads more than 2,500 people across its customer contact centres.

Andrew Hinchliff has been named group executive for institutional banking and markets, effective from August 1. He joined CBA in 2015, as executive general manager of global markets, after spending more than 15 years in global institutional banking and markets roles at Goldman Sachs, and earlier at Credit Suisse First Boston.

Angus Sullivan has been appointed group executive of retail banking services. Previously the acting group executive for retail banking services, he joined CBA in 2012.

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ABN Amro Bank has made senior appointments in its Asia-Pacific trade and commodity finance business. Eugene Ganchev takes over the role of Asia-Pacific head of trade and commodity finance, and Gregory Vandeler has been named the Asia-Pacific head of agricommodities and trade and commodity finance coverage. Both roles are based in Singapore and oversee the bank’s expanding trade and commodity finance business across the region. The appointments are in line with the bank’s plans to expand globally in the sectors of trade and commodity finance, natural resources, food, transportation and logistics.

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Aviva Investors, the asset management arm of Aviva plc, has named Tom Clapham its new head of institutional sales in Asia.

Based in Singapore, he will be responsible for driving Aviva Investors’ growth in the institutional segment across Asia. Clapham reports to Scott Callander, head of client solutions for the Asia-Pacific and Middle East region, and will focus on building new partnerships and strengthening existing relationships with institutional investors such as sovereign wealth funds, government pensions, and insurance companies in north and South-east Asia.

Most recently, Clapham served as the head of sovereign wealth funds and central banks (Asia), institutional sales, and head of consultant relations at Axa Investment Managers.

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Law firm Hogan Lovells named Miguel Zaldivar its new regional chief executive for the Asia-Pacific and Middle East region, effective July 1, 2018. He replaced Patrick Sherrington, who has retired.

Zaldivar, who recently relocated from the US to Hong Kong, served as a member of the firm’s global board of directors, co-head of the infrastructure, energy, resources and projects practice globally, and in the past co-led the firm’s Latin American practice group. He is a corporate transactional and project finance lawyer, with extensive experience working on cross-border matters, including between Latin America and China, Japan, South-east Asia, and the Middle East.

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Asset management firm Legg Mason has appointed Christina Manonian its institutional sales director, effective July 30. She will be based in Melbourne, and will report to business head Andy Sowerby.

Her experience spans 18 years across sales and marketing roles. Manonian joins Legg Mason from Franklin Templeton Investments Australia, where she most recently was their institutional sales director. She joined Franklin Templeton in 2003 in the US, holding various sales, product management and marketing roles over her 15-year tenure within the firm.

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Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission said the government’s financial secretary has reappointed executive directors Brian Ho and Keith Lui for a three-year and a one-year term respectively, with effect from August 28.

Ho is the executive director of the corporate finance division, and Lui is the executive director of the supervision of markets division. They were first appointed to their current positions in 2006.

Additionally, James Lin and William Wong Ming-fung were also reappointed non-executive directors for a term of two years with effect from August 1.

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Reinsurance broker Guy Carpenter has named Bengt Johnsen its head of South-east Asia and South Korea, succeeding Richard Jones, who was promoted to chairman of the Asia-Pacific region in August 2017. Johnsen will be based in Singapore, and report to Tony Gallagher, chief executive for the Asia-Pacific region. Johnsen will take up the position on January 18, 2019, and will be responsible for further developing Guy Carpenter’s local capabilities.