According to an internal memo from Wayne Yang, head of the Pacific Rim private banking and investment group (PBIG) for Merrill, that FinanceAsia has seen, the bank has hired or transferred from other departments seven top bankers in an obvious effort to boost its private banking capabilities around the region. PBIG was set up last year to deliver services across global markets, investment banking, and wealth management platforms to ultra-high-net-worth clients.
Targetting Southeast Asia growth is Alston Beinhorn, who joined in February as managing director of investments for Merrill Lynch in Singapore. He worked for 27 years at Citigroup in the US, the UK, Canada and most recently, Singapore, where he was global market manager.
Richard Hogan, also joined in February as managing director of investments, and transferred earlier this year to Singapore from Merrill Lynch in California, where his team managed almost $40 billion in total client net worth. Hogan began his career as a certified public accountant (CPA) with KPMG, before moving to Salomon Brothers and then into wealth management at Goldman Sachs. He will focus on developing relationships with ultra-high-net-worth clients in the Philippines and other parts of Southeast Asia.
For the Hong Kong and China business, Albert Ip joined in March as managing director of investments. Previously, Ip spent 20 years at Citi in the region as head of the corporate bank in Hong Kong and most recently as head of Asia investment finance. He also sat on Citi's Asia-Pacific and Middle East global wealth management committee.
In a further effort to build up the China business, Alfred Tsai joined the firm from Credit Suisse in April as a managing director of investments. Tsai was previously the mainland market head at Credit Suisse and, prior to that, the China team head of the wealth management group at UBS in Hong Kong where he worked for nine years.
Chan Kwee Him, managing director of investments, joined PBIG in April from Citigroup Private Bank. He has more than 20 years industry experience and has led wealth management teams at Coutts Bank and UBS. He will be based in Singapore, leading a team covering Indonesian PBIG clients and helping to set up a service centre for Chinese clients seeking to manage their wealth from Singapore. Stanley Puah, executive director of investments, Wandy Syahrir, executive director of investments, and Winnie Ngoh, director of investments, were added to this team in May.
Hai Yan Yang, director of investments, joined in May from Deutsche Bank, where she had been a relationship manager covering China clients for the past three years. She will be based in Hong Kong and work with the investment banking team in China.
Radhika Haribhakti joined the team this month as an executive director of investments in Mumbai to spearhead efforts in building up the India market. Before joining Merrill she held responsibilities in the office of the chairman at DSP Merrill Lynch in Mumbai, and prior to that was an investment banker at Morgan Stanley for 15 years, where she developed client relations with successful Indian entrepreneurs who she will target in this new opportunity.
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