Among the growing crowd of firms looking to tap the burgeoning pool of wealth in Asia, ANZ Private Bank is a name being taken very seriously, according to fund management executives.
"When you're talking about the next big distributors whose shelf space is in demand, they're attracting a lot of attention," says Jean-Luc Eyssautier, director of funds distribution at Axa Investment Managers in Hong Kong. "They seem to be putting in place a large team and have big hiring ambitions."
The latest senior appointments will see Craig Burgess move from Hong Kong to Singapore on July 1 into the newly created post of Asia head of investment advisory and planning, and Samuel Suen is to join next week as head of North and Northeast Asia.
Both will report to Nina Aguas, Asia-Pacific managing director at the private bank, and Gilles Planté, ANZ group chief executive for Northeast Asia, Europe and America.
Burgess was previously private banking head for Hong Kong, and his new role has been created in line with plans to support the Australian firm's regional business growth, says a spokeswoman.
The acquisition of certain of RBS's Asian assets last year gives ANZ additional capabilities and a wealth-management platform to build from in the form of the UK bank's Royal Preferred Banking service. The rebranding was completed last weekend, with the dark blue RBS logos being swapped for the lighter shade of ANZ on branches and ATMs.
Commenting on the new hires, Aguas says: "Since joining ANZ in 2008, Craig has led the significant growth of our private bank business in Hong Kong. He is well positioned to lead our growing regional investment advisory and planning team."
"We are also pleased to have Samuel join ANZ Private Bank," she adds. "With more than 20 years of global industry experience, he brings in-depth knowledge of our markets across the region."
Other hires earlier this year include that of Wendy Lim in January as Singapore-based managing director of retail banking and wealth products for Asia-Pacific.
