Barclays hires market head for Hong Kong wealth business

Barclays has appointed Rickie Chan as market head in its Hong Kong wealth and investment management division. He joins on August 16 and will report to Pakorn Boonya-kurkul, head of wealth management for North Asia.

Chan joins Barclays from Goldman Sachs, where he was executive director, managing a team of bankers responsible for serving Hong Kong ultra high-net-worth clients. After 16 years at Goldman, Chan has a depth of experience in managing client relationships that require complex private and business wealth management needs.

“Hong Kong is a key market for us, alongside China and Taiwan, in our North Asia growth plans,” said Boonya-kurkul in a statement. “Rickie’s responsibilities are to continue building our Hong Kong business and team at an even more aggressive pace, and at the same time, work closely with the rest of the Barclays Group in delivering the full value of the firm to our Hong Kong clients.”

Boonya-kurkul joined Barclays in May 2011 and has led a push into North Asia. The bank hired another Goldman veteran, Januar Tjandra, in November last year as head of Greater China, based in Hong Kong. Tjandra had worked at Goldman for 15 years in various roles, including co-head of the Hong Kong office and head of the Taiwan desk. Most recently, he was focused on relationships with Taiwanese clients and was responsible for their complex wealth management needs.

At the same time, Barclays also hired Carol Chen as market head for Greater China based in Singapore. Together, the two are responsible for building, managing and growing their team of bankers serving Chinese and Taiwanese clients. Between them, they have since hired eight bankers across the two locations.

Earlier, in August last year, Barclays hired Anne Luke as head of client solutions for Asia with a remit to drive the origination, structuring and delivery of bespoke private investment-banking solutions to ultra high-net-worth clients based in Singapore.

Barclays’ continued expansion in North Asia follows the opening of its second Asian booking centre in Hong Kong in 2010, enabling it to get closer to prospective clients in one of the most promising jurisdictions for wealth managers.

“With China’s emergence as the world’s largest exporter, and with renminbi trade settlement continuing to gain traction and prominence, Hong Kong’s position as a RMB financial hub will further grow in importance and stature,” said Boonya-kurkul. “Our recent expansion of RMB trading capabilities in both our Singapore and Hong Kong booking centres is a significant step in capturing the growth of wealth in the Greater China region, and further demonstrates our commitment to providing our clients best-in-class and market-leading services.”