Friends Provident International
FPI has confirmed that after 18 years with the company, Chris Gill, managing director of Singapore, is returning to the UK having decided to leave the group for family reasons.
His replacement has been named as Andrew Waddell, previously principal and executive director at Lahinch Partners. Prior to that he co-led the establishment of AMP Advice, following the merger between AMP and Axa Australia. Based in Singapore, Waddell will oversee the FPI business in the local market.
Zurich
Walter Jopp has been appointed chief executive of Zurich Global Life, Middle East & Africa, with immediate effect. He replaces Jawed Barna, who has been appointed head of life in Germany and deputy chief executive of Zurich Group Germany.
Based in Dubai and reporting to Matt Gosden, interim regional chief executive of Global Life Europe, Middle East & Africa, Jopp will be responsible for leading the growth and development of Zurich’s life business across the region.
Additionally, Zurich Insurance has named Hilary Bates as chief claims officer for its general insurance business across Australia and New Zealand. Bates joins Zurich after more than a decade in the insurance industry, including various leadership roles across the US. Most recently, she was head of strategy and technical with QBE in Australia.
Zurich Financial Services Australia has appointed Marc Fabris to the newly created role of head of digital within its Life and Investment business. In this role he will lead the next phase of Zurich’s strategy to become more digitally engaged with customers and distribution partners.
Fabris returns to Australia following a three-year assignment at Zurich’s global headquarters, where he served as global life head of digital marketing.
Axa France
After 25 years with Axa, chairman and chief executive of Axa France, Nicolas Moreau, has decided to leave the group, effective from 30 June. His replacement will be announced shortly.
Moreau started his career in the group’s central finance department. He joined Axa Investment Managers in 1997, becoming chief executive in 2002. In 2007, he took over the leadership of Axa’s businesses in the UK and Ireland, returning to France in 2010. He also oversees Axa Global Direct and Axa Partners.
Deutsche Bank
Jürgen Fitschen is to step down as co-chairman of the management board of Deutsche Bank on 19 May, but will continue to support the bank’s business with key corporate clients. He will focus on Germany and Asia, the regions that have been particularly important to his career.
Fitschen, who has been with the bank since 1987 in a number of role, will continue to work closely with the management board and with the leaders of all businesses and regions.
Old Mutual Global Investors
OMGI has announced that Rob Weatherston has joined its Hong Kong-based equities team as Japanese equity manager. Having joined the company in April 2016, he will report into Josh Crabb, head of Asian equities. He will manage the Dublin-domiciled Old Mutual Japanese Equity Fund, with effect from 17 June 2016.
Weatherston gained experience managing Japanese and Asia Pacific equity funds while working at BlackRock between 1996 and 2014. He moved to Tokyo in 2006 before relocating to Hong Kong in 2010.
Matthews Asia
Sriyan Pietersz has been appointed to the new role of investment strategist responsible for developing research focused on economic and political developments with Asean and frontier markets in Asia.
Prior to joining the firm, Pietersz was a managing director at JP Morgan Investment Bank, where he spent over 11 years with responsibilities spanning both equity research and distribution. Prior to this, he spent over 10 years in senior equity research roles in Asia, managing teams of equity analysts and conducting both macroeconomic and equity analysis.
