Asia moves: SGCIB makes two promotions, Natixis hires three heads, and more

Latest job changes across the industry

Jerome Niddam, SGCIB head of global markets for the Asia-Pacific region

Societe Generale Corporate & Investment Banking has promoted Jerome Niddam to head of global markets for the Asia-Pacific region. It also named Thomas Decouvelaere head of financial engineering, global markets, for the Asia-Pacific region. Decouvelaere joined the bank in 2003, and has been head of pricing, fixed income for Europe since 2013.

---

Credit Suisse has said Francesco de Ferrari, head of private banking for the Asia-Pacific region and chief executive officer for South-east Asia and frontier markets, is leaving the bank after 17 years to pursue other opportunities. In his place, Credit Suisse named François Monnet its head of private banking for north Asia, and Benjamin Cavalli will lead the business in south Asia. Both Monnet and Cavalli will continue to be based in Hong Kong and Singapore respectively, and will report to Helman Sitohang, chief executive for the Asia-Pacific region. Monnet joined the bank in 2007, and since January 2016 has held the role of head of private banking for Greater China. Cavalli joined Credit Suisse in 2009, and will continue in his roles as head of South-east Asia and Singapore head of private banking since 2014.

---

DWS has appointed Clarence Ng its chief financial officer of alternatives for Asia-Pacific business and chief operating officer for DWS China. In these newly created positions, Ng will be responsible for managing the implementation of all financial and governance aspects of the alternatives business across the Asia-Pacific region, in addition to managing all operational aspects of DWS Shanghai. Based in Shanghai, Ng will report to Leon Williams, chief operating officer for Asia-Pacific alternatives.

---

Law firm Withers has hired Junko Pitt (Shiokawa) as a partner for its Hong Kong office. She joins from the Hong Kong office of Harneys, an offshore law firm. Pitt specialises in investment funds, corporate and private clients, and has acted as leading counsel for Japanese and other Asian financial institutions and investment managers in the structuring and formation of various types of funds, including private equity funds and hedge funds. She has also worked on a number of corporate matters, including Hong Kong initial public offerings and financing transactions of private and listed companies.

---

Antoine de Saint Vaulry

Citi has named Antoine de Saint Vaulry Asia-Pacific head of delta one exchange-traded fund (ETF) trading, based in Hong Kong. In this role, de Saint Vaulry will report to Sebastien Mailleux, head of prime finance and delta one for the region, and will focus on the growth of Citi’s ETF client trading capabilities. De Saint Vaulry previously worked at Commerzbank for 14 years, where he was most recently head of ETF and flow trading for Asia.

Citi has also hired Pierre Thiriet as part of the Asia-Pacific delta one team. Pierre will report to de Saint Vaulry, and will focus on pricing, trading and risk management relating to the bank’s regional delta one trading capabilities. Thiriet has 10 years’ experience in the index and statistical trading space, and joins Citi from the ETF market marking team at Commerzbank.

---

BlackRock has named Rajat Agrawal managing director of its Asian private credit team. He will report to Neeraj Seth, head of Asian credit. Based in Mumbai, Agrawal will focus on research to develop strategy for opportunistic credit, including distressed and non-performing loans, as well as sourcing and assessing pipelines in India, while providing advice for the firm’s Asian and global private credit investment platform. Rajat holds more than 24 years’ experience in financial services, predominantly in structuring solutions in lending and risk management for credit approval, and was previously senior risk executive for DBS India.

---

Kroll – which focuses on risk mitigation, investigations, compliance, cyber resilience, security and incident response solutions – has moved Reshmi Khurana to its Singapore office as head of South-east Asia. She joined Kroll in 2003 in New York, before moving in 2011 to head the firm’s south Asia operations from the Mumbai office.

---

Natixis has hired three new people for its investment banking division in the region. Kenneth Lee has been appointed Asia-Pacific head of primary bond markets with immediate effect, and is responsible for debt capital markets and bond syndication. He will report to Raghu Narain, head of Asia-Pacific investment banking, and Viet-Linh Ha Thuc, head of Asia-Pacific fixed income and commodities. Lee started his career with Citibank NA, then moved to ABN Amro Bank NV and Barclays Capital Asia.

Yves Shen has been appointed head of Asia-Pacific capital structure and rating advisory, corporates. He joined the bank in 2015 in London, before transferring to Hong Kong to support multinationals across the Asia-Pacific region in a similar capacity.

Meriem Smida has been promoted to Asia-Pacific head of mergers and acquisitions. She will lead the development of Natixis’s mergers and acquisitions activities in the region. Smida joined Natixis in Hong Kong in 2015.

---

Roland Schwinn, regional head for Asia at derivatives exchange operator Eurex, is leaving the company for personal reasons, the company has said in a statement. He played a key role in developing Eurex’s Asia business over the past 12 years, obtaining regulatory licences for Eurex in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan, Taiwan and Australia to directly connect exchange members. Schwinn also established the exchange’s offices in Hong Kong, Singapore, Beijing and Tokyo.

---

Patrick Strange, a member of the board of directors of the New Zealand Stock Exchange, will step down ahead of the exchange’s 2019 annual meeting. Serving as a director since April 2015, he has contributed to the development of the exchange’s energy and dairy markets strategy, and the recent divestment of its non-core businesses. Strange also served as a member of its audit and risk committee, and clearing committee.

His decision to retire from the board follows his appointment as chair-elect of Auckland International Airport. Strange will continue to serve as a director at Chorus, Mercury and Essential Energy in Australia.