WealthBriefingAsia Awards 2018

Andrew Au

CEO and Co-Founder

AGDelta

Andrew Au is Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of AGDelta, an award-winning Singapore-based company that connects the financial products supply chain. He has more than 20 years’ experience in investment banking and the Financial Services industry, having worked for top-tier global banks including Bankers Trust, Macquarie Group and Deutsche Bank, and global financial technology providers such as SunGard, before he co-founded AGDelta in 2004.

Andrew is a strong advocate of the adoption of disruptive technologies and ‘out of the box’ thinking to address the business challenges within the financial services industry, and regularly pushes for such thinking at events and conferences. Over the past 10 years he has been actively engaging retail and private banking institutions globally in transforming their business by leveraging E-commerce and digital channel models and technology, and is keen to play a leading role in developing the nascent ‘Digital Technopreneur’ movement in Asia. Andrew holds a Bachelor’s in Business from the University of Technology, Sydney and postgraduate studies in Applied Finance from Macquarie University Australia.

Dr. Mario A. Bassi

Senior Advisor

Private Wealth Management

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

Chief Executive Officer

Crossinvest (Asia)

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 Donaldson

Head of Market Development, Wealth Management – Asia Pacific & Japan

Refinitiv

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.

Fernando Gandolini

Partner

Withers KhattarWong

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

Partner

Appleby

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.

Jonathan Hollands

Managing Director

Carraway Group

Jonathan Hollands is an experienced execu­tive search professional and as managing director of Carraway Group covers all areas of the wealth management sector across the Asia-Pacific region. Jonathan began his career as a headhunter in 1998 when he focused on the German and Swiss markets. Before his return to Asia 12 years ago, Jonathan covered senior management positions across central and eastern Europe. Jonathan’s recent successes in the wealth management sector include placing a head of onshore private banking, securing managing director level relationship managers, a head of Hong Kong, senior advisory specialists, China focused bankers and C level officers. Prior to entering executive search Jonathan was a British Army Officer in the 14th/20th Kings Hussars serving in Operation Desert Storm 1991 and in Brunei and Hong Kong in the late 1980’s.

Antoinette Hoon

Partner

PwC

Antoinette is a partner in PwC Hong Kong’s financial services practice and currently leads its private banking group. She has over 20 years of professional experience in Hong Kong and New Zealand and works with many lead­ing multinational banks. She has extensive experience on industry developments and challenges faced by private banking clients. Antoinette leads a number of statutory audits for local and international private banks. She has also led a number of advisory projects with private banking clients, including KYC/AML reviews, governance reviews, business risk management reviews, regulatory reviews and integration assistance. Antoinette is a member of the accreditation & exemption committee of the Private Wealth Management Association in Hong Kong.

Mimi Hutton

Of Counsel

Withers

Mimi Hutton has over 30 years experience advising in Asia on charities and philanthro­py matters, and US and Hong Kong trust and tax affairs for individuals, families and financial institutions. She is a Hong Kong and US qualified lawyer. Mimi advises clients on the creation of charitable structures and on their ongoing philanthropy. She also advises charities on tax and structuring and governance matters. She works with clients who have US family members who are investing in the US, moving to the US or expatriating. Mimi also advises in connection with international probate matters, including matters in which the estate owns US assets and/or has US beneficiaries. She also assists clients who have US citizenship or green card status on trust and estate planning strategies.

Danny Jones

Founding Partner

Huddleston Jones

A founding partner in Huddleston Jones, Danny leads the group’s retained search practice focused on the traditional private wealth management markets of Asia Pacific and the Middle East. Danny has an excellent understanding across a broad spectrum of disciplines within wealth management, delivering cross-border recruitment solutions whilst providing thematic industry research and market intelligence.

Prior to executive search, Danny’s experience within his area of specialty included work for an international wealth manager in Dubai, Tokyo and Johannesburg. Relocating to Asia in 2008, Danny has since led ‘front office’ search businesses in Hong Kong and Singapore, where he is recognized as one of the leading private banking and wealth management sector executive search specialists.

Professor Francis Koh

Professor Emeritus of Finance (Practice)

Singapore Management University

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 Legrand

CEO

LCA Solutions

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”.

Philip Marcovici

Offices of Philip Marcovici

Philip Marcovici is retired from the practice of law and consults with governments, financial institutions and global families in relation to tax, wealth management and other matters. Philip was the founder and CEO of LawInContext (now called Baker McKenzie Link), the interactive knowledge venture of global law firm, Baker & McKenzie. Philip retired from his CEO role with the company as from the end of 2010, and from his chairmanship of the company as from the end of 2011. He was a partner of Baker & McKenzie, a firm he joined in 1982, and practiced in the area of international taxation throughout his legal career. Philip was based in the Hong Kong office of Baker & McKenzie for 12 years, relocating to the Zurich office of Baker & McKenzie in 1995. Philip has also practiced law in each of New York and Vancouver, British Columbia. Philip retired from Baker & McKenzie at the end of 2009.

Philippe A May

Managing Director, Head of Asia Pacific

Arton Capital

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 Olesnicky

Special Advisor

Baker & McKenzie

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 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

Executive Director

Singapore Consultancy

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 Weatherill

Chairman

ClearView Financial Media

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 and JDX Consulting.

Richard Weisman

Senior Tax Partner (Hong Kong)

Baker & McKenzie

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

APAC Wealth Management Lead

Accenture

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.