Asia moves: JP Morgan names Asia ECM head, Deutsche adds to ESG team, and more

Latest job news across the industry

JP Morgan has named Francesco Lavatelli as head of equity capital markets (ECM) for Asia-Pacific, following Daniel Darahem’s move to become senior country officer of Brazil earlier this year. 

Lavatelli has been at the firm since 2002 in a variety of sales and marketing roles, most recently as head of debt capital markets for Asia ex-Japan. He was also leading the Asia corporate equity derivatives business, a role that he will retain in his new position. Francesco will report jointly to Achintya Mangla and Mike Millman, co-heads of ECM. 

He will also continue to report to Bregje de Best and Brad Tully, co-heads of global corporate and private side sales, for his derivatives responsibilities. He will continue to be part of the Asia-Pacific banking management team, reporting locally to regional chief executive Filippo Gori.

Meanwhile, Bhasker Iyer will take on additional leadership responsibilities for JP Morgan’s debt capital markets business in Asia ex-Japan, in addition to his existing role as co-head of Asia ex-Japan sales and marketing.

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Deutsche Bank has appointed Kalpana Seethepalli to its Asia-Pacific environmental social and governance (ESG) team. This hire follows the appointment of Kamran Khan as head of ESG for Asia in May of this year. 

In a newly created role, Seethepalli will lead the team’s work on results frameworks, measurement, monitoring and sustainable finance taxonomies for ESG transactions. 

Seethepalli joins from Infra-Tech Capital, an impact investment fund, where she was managing director, sustainability and impact. Previously Seethepalli worked at the World Bank Group where she focused on sustainable development and investment policy, blended finance and public-private partnerships. 

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HSBC Private Banking has appointed Jyrki Rauhio as regional head of credit advisory for Asia. Rauhio joins from Citigroup where he spent over 25 years in various roles across multiple cities spanning Helsinki, New York, Warsaw and London, including over 12 years in Hong Kong and Singapore. This included serving as head of investment finance and banking for Asia and, most recently, as head of South Asia in Singapore.

Rauhio will report to Siew Meng Tan, regional head of HSBC private banking, and Daniel Mentha, global head of credit advisory. He replaces Desiree Lam, who will take up a new role within HSBC Private Banking.

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BNY Mellon has appointed Fangfang Chen as Asia-Pacific chair and Asia-Pacific head of asset servicing and digital. She will take up the role from the start of next year. Chen will be responsible for overseeing the execution of the company’s strategic growth agenda in Asia-Pacific. 

Based in Hong Kong, she will report to Hani Kablawi, chairman of international, and to James Slater, head of asset servicing client coverage and front-office solutions. Chen joins from Algorand Foundation, a financial technology start-up. She previously spent 12 years at State Street, where she held numerous leadership roles in the US, China and in Hong Kong. Her last role with the investment management company was as chief operating officer for Asia. 

Chen succeeds David Cruikshank, who announced his retirement from the company earlier this year. 

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BNP Paribas Securities Services has appointed Anthony McDonald to head up its newly-created Hong Kong agency securities lending desk. Located in Hong Kong, the new desk will focus on Asian markets and provide local client coverage to meet growing appetite from clients looking to increase their asset allocations into the region. This new trading desk will complement existing services offered via desks in Sydney, London and New York. 

McDonald, who joins from SEB, has worked in equity finance for more than 20 years, first in London before moving to Hong Kong. He has previously worked at RBS Trust Bank, Credit Suisse, Citigroup and Dresdner Kleinwort. 

McDonald will report locally to Natalie Floate, Asia head of market and financing services, and globally to Andrew Geggus, global head of agency lending trading.

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Societe Generale has appointed Hirosuke Uraoka as head of Japan for its ETF asset management business, Lyxor ETF. In this newly created role, Uraoka’s focus will be on supporting Societe Generale’s institutional client relationships in Japan and capitalising on new ETF business opportunities. 

Based in Tokyo, he will report to Naohisa Morita, SG’s head of asset management products in Japan, and Christopher Friese, head of Lyxor ETF Asia in Hong Kong.

Hong Kong real estate company CBRE has appointed Jonathan Chau as head of its investment property and private office in Hong Kong. Jonathan joins from global real estate provider, where he spent 13 years in investment sales across a wide spectrum of property sectors.

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Global financing company EquitiesFirst has appointed Gordon Crosbie-Walsh as its chief executive officer for Asia. Crosbie-Walsh has worked in financial services for more than three decades. 

Prior to joining EquitiesFirst, he led several investment banking businesses in Asia, including CM Financial and Jefferies Asia. Crosbie-Walsh has also worked at both Deutsche Bank and securities firm Salomon Smith Barney as head of equity sales.

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Professional services firm TMF Group has appointed Sabrina Li as head of fund services for the China and Taiwan market. 

Li joins from State Street where she was unit head. Li has also served in other international firms including Citco Fund Services and HSBC, as well as in Chinese domestic companies such as Sycamore Investment and Homaer Financial, focusing on hedge fund accounting and operations.