Friends Provident International

Angeline Huang has been appointed chief executive of Friends Provident International's Singapore office.

She will be looking after the operation of the Singapore branch. 

‘I am happy to be taking on this new role and look forward to moving forward while reinforcing our commitment to the region,' she said.

Her appointment comes at the end of a year in which she shadowed David Gervais in the role.

"I am clearly leaving the Singapore office in good hands,' said Gervais, who will remain as general manager, looking after the sales effort in Kuala Lumpur, Hong Kong and Singapore. "Angeline is very experienced. We will continue working in tandem in the region."

Huang is a Certified Practising Accountant with over 10 years of experience in the insurance industry. She has worked in finance business partnering, product design and distribution management roles. She has been with Friends Provident International since 2016. Prior to joining the insurance industry, she was an external auditor.

International Financial Group Limited (IFGL) owns FPI, as well as RL360 and Ardan International.

 

Kingswood 

Kingswood Holdings, the international, fully integrated wealth and investment management group, has named Jessica McGuigan as Chartered Wealth Planner, based at the firm's Abingdon office. 

In her new role, she will utilise her expertise to advise clients on a wide range of financial planning areas, with a particular specialism in providing bespoke solutions to pre and post retirement planning, savings and investment, estate planning and specialist investments and tax planning, enabling them to identify and prioritise their long-term financial goals. 

McGuigan has over seven years' experience in the financial services industry, having most recently been Personal Wealth Adviser at Schroders Personal Wealth. 

Prior to this, she held a number of positions at Critchleys Financial Planning, including paraplanner and financial planner. She holds the level 6 Advanced Diploma in Financial Planning, as well as the Certificate in Discretionary Investment Management and Long Term Care qualification. 

The appointment follows a series of advisory firm acquisitions in the UK, including so far this year acquiring Vincent & Co Ltd in Lincolnshire; Allotts Financial Services Limited, in Rotherham; D.J. Cooke (Life & Pensions) Limited in, South Yorkshire; Joseph R Lamb Independent Financial Advisers in Essex and Aim Independent Limited in Hampshire. The firm also acquired Metnor, the holding company for IBOSS Asset Management Limited and Novus Financial Services Limited, late last year.

Hayley Burton, managing director, head of wealth planning, Midlands and South , said: "Jessica has had an impressive career to date, rising quickly through the ranks and consistently outperforming set goals in her client facing advisory roles. We are delighted to welcome someone of Jessica's calibre to our highly capable and diverse advisory team to support our strategy.

Despite industry efforts, we see that there is still a lack of women in wealth and financial roles. At Kingswood, we are actively working towards closing this gap and are aiming to grow our team of female advisers from 15 to 25 percent by the end of the year."

Manulife Investment Management 

Manulife Investment Management has appointed Nick Ping as deputy chief investment officer, Timberland, effective 1 July 2022. He takes over the global role from Tony Cascio, who retires at the end of July.

Reporting to Tom Sarno, global head of Timberland Investments, Manulife Investment Management, he is responsible for the development of new investment strategies and growth initiatives, client investment governance and identifying and mitigating risk exposures related to Manulife Investment Management's timberland investment process, products and client investments. 

"Over the years, Nick oversaw the growth of our timberland and agriculture business in the Asia Pacific region, which is an important part of our global strategy. As investors around the world pay closer attention to natural capital solutions, Nick will play a critical role in generating returns for our clients, while at the same time create positive impact on the timberland assets we manage," said Tom Sarno.

"We would also like to thank Tony for his years of service at Manulife Investment Management. He has been instrumental in leading our Client Account Management teams and serving as Deputy Chief Investment Officer. We wish him all the best in retirement," Tom Sarno added. 

Continuing to be based in Melbourne, Ping is directly involved with business development activities, structuring investment management agreements, and designing timberland investment goals and constraints. He is a member of Manulife Investment Management's Timberland Strategy Team and the Timberland and Agriculture Investment Committee. He was previously Managing Director, Institutional Business, Asia Pacific, Timberland and Agriculture and, before that, was Vice President Business Development and Resource Planning Australasia. 

Prior to joining Manulife Investment Management in 2008, Ping coordinated the resource planning functions for Hancock Victorian Plantations Pty Limited, before joining Pöyry Management Consulting, where he consulted on a variety of projects throughout Asia Pacific, including forest appraisals, due diligence and strategic planning.

Algebris 

Algebris Investments, the global asset manager specialising in financial credit and equity, has named Samuel Sibony, who joins the team as co-portfolio manager, managing $620m in the Global Credit Opportunities strategies.

James Friedman will continue to lead the team as lead portfolio manager. The Global Credit Opportunities strategies are managed on the basis of a team approach with Samuel working alongside the members of the existing Global Credit Opportunities portfolio management team - Gabriele Foà (Co-Portfolio Manager), Simone Mallardi (Co-Portfolio Manager) and Lennart Lengeling (Investment Analyst).

Samuel Sibony joins from DC Advisory, where he was a senior member of the London-based restructuring team, covering deals in the UK and the EU. 

Prior to DC Advisors, he was a Senior Analyst at Attestor Capital, a London-based distressed hedge fund. He spent eight years at Chris Hohn's Children's Investment Fund between 2011 and 2019, where he managed corporate debt investments on a global scale.

He started his investment career at Barclays Capital. 

Davide Serra, Founder & CEO of Algebris, said: "Samuel is a highly regarded professional in his field and will bring a wealth of experience to our Global Credit team. He possesses an impressive track record working for almost 20 years with some of the most prestigious firms globally." 

NatWest

NatWest has appointed Stuart Foster as its new managing director of Financial Institutions which is part of the banking group's Commercial and Institutional business. 

In his role, Foster will bring all institutional customers across NatWest Group into one franchise to deliver greater value to all stakeholders.

Prior to this appointment, he led the Institutional Banking business at RBS International, part of NatWest Group, where he was responsible for delivering the institutional banking strategy while serving on the Board of NatWest Trustee and Depositary Services.

He first joined NatWest Group over 20 years ago and has held a number of management positions within the firm. 

Foster said: "It's a fantastic opportunity to bring together our institutional customers across NatWest Group into a single franchise.

By doing so we're able to bring the best of the whole bank to our customers and further support their growth ambitions."
Foster's successor at RBS International will be announced in due course.

Mirabaud Asset Management 

Mirabaud Asset Management has hired Elliot Fowles to join their UK Wholesale team, further strengthening their presence and commitment to the UK market. 

Fowles, who has nearly thirty years of experience in the industry, joins from Aviva Investors where he has spent the last ten years as senior business development director. Prior to this, he held sales positions at HSBC Global Asset Management and DWS Investments, among others. Fowles joins Mirabaud Asset Management on 18 July 2022, and reports into Benjamin Carter, Head of UK Wholesale at Mirabaud Asset Management. 

The arrival of Fowles and the continued development of the sales and distribution team demonstrates the group's long-term commitment to servicing clients in this important market. 

Benjamin Carter said; "The addition of such an experienced and practiced professional such as Elliot will be a great boost to our relationship building in the UK Wholesale market, further progressing our ability to provide clients with high conviction, sustainable investment solutions."

Crestbridge

Crestbridge has recognised 58 individuals across its international network of offices as part of its 2022 mid-year promotions.

Amongst those promoted are a number at senior level. Greg Belcham (Technology Architecture & Development) Svitlana Dobrovolska (Funds Services) and Emmanuel Capraro (Management Company Services) have all been promoted to Director and Greg Davis has been promoted to Head of Technology Service Delivery. 

Briony Rea (Real Estate Services) and Jacques-Olivier Cogis (Client Operations) have both been promoted to Associate Directors.
In addition, the business has promoted a further 52 individuals across the Group, which now spans nine offices across the globe including Bahrain, the Cayman Islands, Dublin, Jersey, London, Luxembourg, New Jersey, New York and Southampton. All of those promoted have been recognised for their contribution to the business, achievements, expertise and commitment. 

Dean Hodcroft, chief executive, Crestbridge said: "Our mid-year promotions provide us with an excellent opportunity to reward those individuals who have worked especially hard to deliver outstanding quality services over the first half of the year. As part of our ongoing collaborative work to define our company vision, feedback from colleagues across the Group has been clear - they want to see greater transparency around decision making, which is why this time we've enhanced our promotions process to better reflect these views."