The Seventh Annual WealthBriefingAsia Awards 2019

William Ahern established Family Capital Conservation in 2008 to focus on providing independent strategic advice to families and intermediaries in complex tax succession and legacy planning. The firm is founded on Bill’s 20 years experience in Hong Kong and across Asia in the areas of complex tax, succession and legal issues.

Bill’s early career was formed at Hong Kong law firm, Deacons, before he moved to Brisbane. He returned to Hong Kong in 1999 to work in a private client law firm, becoming a director of trust and legal affairs at an international trust company after that. He was managing partner at HSBC’s private bank’s tax advisory arm until 2008.

Mario brings extensive experience to the industry as senior advisor driving sales and business initiatives in Asia Pacific for UHNWI/FO service providers. He draws upon his detailed understanding from roles such as global head of business management for ANZ Private Bank in Australasia, where he defined and delivered the strategic and operational needs for the business.

Previously Mario worked for leading wealth managers such as Vontobel, Credit Suisse and Deutsche Bank, holding positions across a variety of disciplines including relationship management, business and financial planning, training and development, strategy, business development and marketing communications in both Europe and Asia. He was also managing director for Solution Providers Management Consulting, leading its growth in Asia Pacific, specifically Singapore.

He wrote and published his Ph.D. thesis about the supervision of External Asset Managers [EAM] in Switzerland (“Der bankunabhängige Vermögensverwalter: Analyse des Handlungsbedarfs einer möglichen Aufsicht unter Berücksichtigung des amerikanischen und englischen Rechts”), build up/out of various EAM desks in Switzerland and Singapore and serviced this segment.

Rohit Bhuta, CEO, Crossinvest (Asia) Pte Ltd, a family owned independent asset management company with a 10 year presence in Asia. Crossinvest is headquartered in Lugano. Rohit has more than 25 years of industry experience. Prior to Crossinvest (Asia) Rohit worked with the Macquarie group for over 22 years in various capacities and geographies including Australia, Singapore, Malaysia, South Africa, Hong Kong and India. He has also worked in the UK and New Zealand during the early part of his career.

Patrick is the head of market development, wealth management – Asia Pacific & Japan, for Refinitiv based in Singapore. His role is to ensure that Refinitiv’s products & services meet the needs and expectations of wealth management customers by identifying, developing and launching news, analytics, risk and workflow solutions to the wealth management community across all asset classes and segments. Patrick joined the financial & risk division of Thomson Reuters in 2014, which became Refinitiv in October 2018.

Previously Patrick worked within the private banking industry in Singapore as head of the European desk at Barclays Wealth and head of private banking at VP Bank (Singapore). He moved to Singapore in 2008 from London where he was a team leader for Barclays Wealth.

Alain Esseiva is the Co-Founder and CEO of Alpadis Group. Alain leads the business, development, strategy and growth aspects of the Group, and oversees the day-to-day operations of the Singapore office as well as growth in Switzerland.

Alain brings over 30 years of combined experience in wealth planning and fiduciary services both in Switzerland and internationally. He has a calculated appetite for risk and embraces change, constantly looking at new markets and opportunities.

When he is not advising his clients across Switzerland and Asia, Alain enjoys running ultramarathons around the world, including the Gobi Desert, Kazakhstan and Antarctica.

He advises on US and international tax and estate planning for high net-worth individuals, trusts and estates. Fernando’s area of focus includes working with international families and successful entrepreneurs to establish tax efficient succession planning structures, identifying tax planning opportunities for clients seeking to relocate to or invest in the US and advising on US tax non-compliance issues and voluntary disclosure. He has acquired significant cross-border experience advising clients with close ties to Asia, continental Europe (particularly Italy and Spain) and South America.

Richard Grasby is a Partner in Appleby’s Hong Kong office, leading the Private Client, Trusts and Family Office practice.

Richard advises trustees, ultra-high net worth individuals, private trust companies and family offices on the establishment, restructuring and administration of trusts, including special trusts i.e. BVI VISTA, Cayman STAR and Employee Benefit Trusts. He regularly assists in estate administration, succession planning and family governance. Private clients and family offices instruct Richard to advise on the use of corporate vehicles for asset holding and succession planning purposes. Richard is an expert in regulatory law including AML, AEOI, economic substance and licensing and risk management for trust companies. He also advises on collective investment funds, particularly unit trusts and private label funds.

Richard has acted for many of the world’s leading trust companies, financial institutions, wealthy individuals and related structures. He has experience with dealing with clients and advisors across the globe.

Richard has over 20 years’ post qualification experience with the majority spent in offshore firms. Richard has lived and worked in Jersey, London, the Cayman Islands and (since 2009) Hong Kong. He is admitted as a solicitor in England and Wales and the British Virgin Islands and is a Registered Foreign Lawyer in Hong Kong. He has also been admitted as an Attorney in the Cayman Islands.

Richard is an active member of STEP. He has been on the local executive committee since 2012 and is a former chair. He is on the global steering committees for the Business Families and International Client Special Interest Groups. He is a member of the Academic Community.

Richard is an elected Academician of the International Academy of Estate and Trust Law (the only such offshore practitioner in APAC). He is also a Certified Anti Money Laundering Specialist.

Richard is a lecturer on trusts and family offices for the Hong Kong Securities and Investment Institute and for the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.

He is a member of the Hong Kong Trustee Association, the Family Firm Institute the International Bar Association and the Investment Migration Council.

Richard is an active speaker at events across the world and a writer for many journals.

As a Founding Partner at Huddleston Jones, Danny leads their retained search practice, specializing in Private Wealth Management across Asia Pacific and the Middle East. Prior to his executive search career, he gained extensive experience working for an International Wealth Manager in Dubai, Tokyo, and Johannesburg.

Since 2008, he has successfully led 'front office' search firms in Hong Kong and Singapore, recognized as a top executive search specialist in private banking and wealth management. With deep market knowledge, Danny has built a global network. He emphasizes comprehensive market research and candidate intelligence, aiming for excellence in client service.

Danny also served in the Royal Air Force and holds a Bachelor's degree with First Degree Honors in Business Management.

Professor Francis Koh is Emeritus Professor of Finance and the Founding Director of the MSc in Wealth Management Programme at the Singapore Management University.

He is an Independent Non-Executive Director of Manulife US Real Estate Management Pte Ltd and China Taiping Insurance (Singapore) Pte Ltd. Employed by the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation between 1994- 2002, he was involved in investment projects in various countries, including China, Thailand and Indonesia. He is active in consulting, executive development and public service. He was conferred with the Public Administration Medal (Silver) in 2013. In 2012, Francis was awarded an honorary doctorate (honoris causa) in economics by the University of St Gallen. In 2016, Francis was honoured with the lifetime achievement award by WealthBriefingAsia.

Philippe is CEO and co-founder of LCA Solutions, an award winning multi-family office that services high net worth clients as a one stop solution. Beyond a standard wealth management offering and corporate advisory solutions for the family business, LCA offers family governance guidance and also provides a forum to source answers to numerous non-financial issues (succession & generational transfer, legal structuring, immigration, family charters etc.).

Philippe has accumulated more than 30 years of senior management experience with international banks in private, corporate and investment banking.

Before founding LCA in 2010, he developed the Asian private banking platform for Rabobank/Sarasin in the late 1990s and subsequently headed the private banking North Asian operations of ABN AMRO. He was previously deputy CEO of BNP Paribas Wealth Management, North Asia, a group for whom he worked for over 13 years.

Based in Hong Kong since 1995 he has also worked in Europe, North America and India; Philippe is a regular speaker at wealth management and asset management conferences in Asia as well as being a judge for various awards within the industry.

Philippe won the Asian WealthBriefing 2017 Award for “Outstanding contribution to wealth management thought leadership”.

Valérie is head of CRM –Asia Pacific based in Singapore and has overall responsibility for business development and the services delivery for the Asia and MENA region. Prior to joining Sanne, Valérie worked for more than fifteen years as a corporate law and funds lawyer at leading law firms in Paris, Luxembourg and Dubai. She has gained considerable experience working with asset managers and family offices with respect to structuring their cross-border investments globally.

The Hon. Philippe A. May is a part of the inception of the Arton Capital office in Singapore and oversees the Asia Pacific Region. His career began as a portfolio manager for Asian Equities at Credit Suisse in Zurich. After his move to Singapore he became vice president of EFG Private Bank and director of VP Bank. Mr. May is a Swiss-certified financial planner and banking specialist. He holds a Bachelor of Business Administration and studied Chinese at Jiao Tong University in Shanghai. In 2011 the government of St. Vincent and the Grenadines appointed him as its Honorary Consul to Singapore.

Michael was previously the partner in charge of Baker McKenzie’s tax group in Asia. At the firm, Michael focused on estate and succession planning for high net worth individuals. His practice also involved general corporate tax advice, tax disputes and litigation and stamp duty matters. He focused on Asia generally and Hong Kong specifically. Michael sits on the executive committee of the Hong Kong branch of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP) and chairs its China sub-committee. He is also a member of STEP’s global Board and Council. Additionally, he is the Chairman of the Joint Liaison Committee on Taxation in Hong Kong and sits on the board of the International Fiscal Association's branch in Hong Kong. He has been a full-time lecturer in the Law Faculty of Hong Kong University and remains a visiting lecturer in tax law there.

Steven Seow is the founder and executive director of Singapore Consultancy. He has more than 16 years of working experience in banking and consulting. Prior to running Singapore Consultancy, he was the Asia head of wealth management for Mercer (2013-2017) and a director in EY Advisory (2008-2013). Over the course of his career, he has also worked in Citi Private Bank, IBM, PwC Consulting and Odyssey.

Bruce is a chartered accountant with over 37 years financial services experience, previously a partner in PwC, latterly as Global leader of their Wealth Management practice and the key driver of their bi-annual Wealth Management Report. Bruce is now CEO of Weatherill Consulting providing advice on client centricity and wider strategic matters to wealth managers. He is the author of The Value of Trust: the quest by Wealth Managers for Trusted Advisor status and a number of other thought leadership reports. Bruce is chairman of ClearView Financial Media and a non-executive of a number of companies including Fidelity Holdings UK, The Wisdom Council, ComPeer, JDX Consulting and Ten Group.

Mr. Weisman has occupied various leadership positions within the Baker McKenzie, including as Head of Baker McKenzie’s Global Tax Practice Group and as a member of Baker McKenzie’s Global Executive Committee. He is a frequent speaker on international tax issues, and is an active participant in internal and external programs, including those by Baker McKenzie and the Tax Executives Institute. Mr. Weisman is a governor of the American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong, and has also served on the Executive Committee of the Hong Kong branch of the International Fiscal Association.

David Wilson leads Accenture’s Asia Wealth Management practice, working with the senior leadership teams of the region’s wealth management firms to enable business growth and improve organizational enablement and efficiency. Previously, David was a team lead within UOB’s Group Strategy & Transformation function leading key Board- and Executive Committee-level strategy and digital transformation programs. Prior to UOB he spent over a decade in consulting and wealth management with Capgemini, Merrill Lynch, and UBS.

Drawing upon his extensive leadership experience and industry knowledge, Arjan is responsible for the entire products and services offering in Asia and overlooks the regional investment strategy.

Arjan started his financial career with Hollandsche Bank Unie (HBU), serving Private, Corporate and Institutional clients within a dealing room environment, and subsequently became Head of Treasury & Special Products Private Clients in the Netherlands. He has over 14 years of experience with ABN AMRO Private Banking, of which more than 7 years were spent in Asia. In early 2006, he relocated to Singapore to take up the position of Regional Head of Treasury & Special Products for Private Banking in Asia with ABN AMRO. With his strong understanding of the needs of Asian clients, Arjan moved to Hong Kong in April 2010 and was appointed Head of Private Banking for North Asia. Following this, he was appointed Head of North Asia at ANZ Private Bank before being appointed Head of Integration for ANZ Retail & Private Wealth Asia in April 2016. Arjan was appointed Head of Markets, Investments & Structuring, Asia at Indosuez Wealth Management in February 2017, initially based in Hong Kong and as of August 2022 based in Singapore.

Arjan graduated with a Master of Science in Business Economics from Nyenrode University, the Netherlands.

Yolande Escher is regional managing director, head of Greater China for BNY Mellon Wealth Management based in Hong Kong. In this role she manages the bank’s bespoke portfolio management proposition, trusted fiduciary services (for Cayman and US trust structures), as well as global family office services for Asia. Yolande’s clients include UHNWI from Hong Kong, China, Taiwan, Thailand and the Philippines.

Prior to moving to Hong Kong, Yolande was senior wealth director for Family Office Services at BNY Mellon based in London. While there she advised European, Middle Eastern and Asian family offices how to create operational efficiencies within a trusted, global custody relationship with the world’s largest custodian.

Rolf Gerber lives in Singapore where he holds a number of board positions having retired after almost four decades in the finance industry at the end of 2016. Rolf joined LGT Bank in 2002 to establish a banking platform for the bank in Singapore. His last role was chairman of LGT Bank (Singapore). Before joining LGT he worked at UBS Investment Banking for over 20 years in various leadership positions in Zurich, London, Tokyo, Seoul, Hong Kong and Singapore.

Ms. Loh has specialised in the private client industry for more than 20 years, with experience as a trust and tax lawyer before moving into the private banking sector, setting up and managed private trusts for ultra-high net-worth families in Hong Kong and Taiwan; and their philanthropic vision. Jacqueline has recently joined Ogier in Hong Kong as Director, Head of Private Wealth, Asia. Jacqueline is a Member of Law Society of Ontario, Law Society of Hong Kong and Law Society of England and Wales and Member of The Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP).

She is a former Chairman of STEP's Hong Kong branch and continues to have material involvement as Council Member.

Simon is a veteran wealth planner and private banker with more than 25 years of experience in wealth planning, trustee administration and private banking. Previously he was the Managing Director, Private Banking, North Asia and Wealth Solution, Asia, for Bank of Montreal for over 5 years.  Prior to that, he was the managing director and head of RBC Wealth Management’s Trust Company - Asia for almost 20 years, as well as the head of their private banking business in Hong Kong for about 16 years.

Bernard, a former lawyer, has extensive experience in wealth structuring, corporate and family governance, corporate finance and financial markets. Before taking up his current role, Bernard was the global head of HSBC’s private trust and succession planning business and the regional head Asia-Pacific of HSBC Private Bank.

Bernard is past chairman of the private banking sub-committee of the Hong Kong Association of Banks, past chairman of the Hong Kong Branch of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners, past chairman of the Hong Kong Trustees' Association. He has also served as a member of the Financial Services Advisory Committee of the Hong Kong Trade Development Council, and as a member of the Joint Liaison Committee on Trust Law Reform (HK).

Anton Wong is Head of Taiwan Market based in Hong Kong.  Along with his team of Relationship Managers, he supports and services clients of Taiwanese descent in the region.

This is in addition to his extended responsibility of articulating the Next Generation strategy for the bank, which he continues to champion along with other key stakeholders.

Joining the Bank in 2011, and prior to his current role, Anton headed the Key Client Group in Asia with a focus on the bank’s Ultra High Net Worth proposition. He oversaw the private bank’s cross-selling efforts with Corporate & Institutional Bank and other business lines, and brought customized solutions to this client segment.

He is also a member of BNP Paribas’ Hong Kong CSR Committee.  He is actively engaged in the promotion of the arts and inclusive activities for disabled artists through his involvement in local NGOs.

Anton obtained his bachelor and master degrees in accountancy from the University of Illinois, and an MBA in finance from Columbia Business School.

Vicky Wong is head of key client solutions with LGT Bank in Hong Kong where she is responsible for assisting Asian-based clients with the non-investment aspects of their wealth planning. Vicky also plays a key role in developing LGT’s Asian business and serves on LGT’s executive board Asia.

Prior to joining LGT Group, Vicky was an executive director at Goldman Sachs (Asia) for over 10 years. Before that, she practiced private client law, first with Stikeman Elliott, and then with Bryan Cave. Vicky is a licensed attorney in California and Washington, U.S.A, a licensed barrister and solicitor in British Columbia, Canada, and a member of the Law Societies of Hong Kong, and England and Wales.