Asia moves: Natixis hires Asia M&A chief, Deutsche Bank picks north Asia head, and more

The International Swaps and Derivatives Association has hired Su Yen Chia as its new head of Asia-Pacific public policy. Chia replaces Keith Noyes, who held a joint role as the association’s regional head until May 2019. 

Chia has held a variety of public policy and government relations roles at Credit Suisse, Barclays Bank and, most recently, Euroclear. 

Chia will be based in Hong Kong and will report to Steven Kennedy, global head of public policy at Isda.

Deutsche Bank Wealth Management has appointed Boris Kwok as group head, north Asia, a role that comes with a focus on China.

Kwok joins DBWM from Standard Chartered where he had held various roles since 2003. He was most recently head of the private banking arm’s China team, before departing in October 2019. In that role, he managed a team of over 25 relationship managers and team heads, covering Greater China. 

Kwok will report to Kanas Chan, DBWM’s managing director and head of north Asia.

Credit Suisse has appointed Will Stephens as head of its newly established quantitative and systematic strategy team, part of the bank’s equity research franchise. 

Stephens, who has more than 20 years’ experience in buy- and sell-side research roles, joins from Deutsche Bank where he was head of delta-one strategy and regional equity strategy.

Matthew Xu has been hired as Crédit Agricole’s director of debt capital markets origination for China, within the bank’s debt origination and advisory arm. 

He joins from Mizuho Securities (Asia) Hong Kong, where he was director of debt capital markets for China. Previously, Matthew worked for Bank of China, where he last served as associate director of debt capital markets, within the bank’s financial products division. 

Matthew will report locally to Wendy Zhu, who heads the global markets division for China and functionally to Fang Lei, managing director of debt origination and advisory for China. 

Natixis’s corporate and investment banking unit has appointed Miranda Zhao to head of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) Asia-Pacific.

 Zhao will be responsible for leading the development of M&A activities for the Asia-Pacific platform, working closely with the bank’s in-house teams as well as its network of boutiques in the region and globally. 

Zhao’s most recent role before joining Natixis was as head of M&A China at Everbright Capital. Prior to that, she worked for various global investment banks, including Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch, Royal Bank of Scotland and CIMB. Zhao reports to Raghu Narain, head of investment banking, Asia-Pacific. 

Erik Bleekrode has been appointed by KPMG as head of insurance for the Asia region. 

Based in Hong Kong, Bleekrode is also head of insurance for KPMG in China, and leads the China’s insurance accounting change practice. He will report to Simon Gleave, KPMG’s head of financial services in Asia-Pacific.  

Bleekrode has more than 30 years of experience in the industry, and has held various roles in Brazil, Hong Kong and the Netherlands. He replaces Simon Donowho, who will now spend more time advising his insurance clients. 

Bianca Law has been appointed by Natixis as head of sponsor finance, Asia. Law has more than 20 years’ investment banking experience, in a variety of roles focused on leveraged finance and syndicated loans. 

Her most recent role before joining Natixis was leading the loan syndications team at Standard Chartered Bank in Hong Kong. Prior to that, Bianca held roles in strategic client coverage and leveraged finance at Standard Chartered in Asia.

Deacons has made three new partner appointments. Canny Lau from the corporate finance practice, Ming Chiu Li and Pinky Siu from the investment funds practice.

Lau is a Hong Kong-based solicitor who focuses on corporate finance and securities work, including initial public offerings, secondary issues, mergers and acquisitions, and corporate restructurings, as well as local and cross-border joint ventures.

Li has extensive experience in investment funds, specialising in Securities and Futures Commission-authorised funds and pension funds. He also advises clients on a wide range of regulatory issues, and has an interest in fund products, especially those related to China.

Sui’s experience includes advisory work on the establishment of a variety of investment funds in Hong Kong, including retail SFC-authorised funds, exchange-traded funds, pension fund schemes, approved pooled investment funds and index-tracking collective investment schemes.