Singlife with Aviva 

Navigator Investment Services, an integrated investment platform under Singlife with Aviva, has ramped up its operations and management strength as part of its ambitious business plans to develop financial advisory services for the industry. 

Navigator's rapid expansion includes a number of senior executives from the regional banking and technology industries, following the appointment of Akhil Doegar as Chief Executive Officer in November 2021. 

There have also been significant investments and enhancements in technology and product, culminating in a best-in-class, technology-led and client-centric wealth platform for financial advisers to sustainably serve their customers. 

The new appointments to Navigator's leadership team include:

Wei Lin Chin, who joins as Head of Strategy and Business Management. She brings two decades of banking, compliance and legal experience. She was previously Executive Director, Group Strategy and Planning at DBS, where she was involved in strategic projects such as Digital Exchange and Evolution X. Prior to that, Wei Lin served as a litigator with Rajah & Tann Asia focussing on banking disputes and restructuring. 

Farooq Lone, who joins as Head of Product and Business Development. He brings a wealth of experience in product management and sales from DBS, where he was Digital Product and Business Head for Indonesia. 

Ee Ghim Chua joins as Brand Marketing Lead. He has advised and worked with various financial and technology brands across Singapore, Hong Kong and Shanghai, helping to elevate brand profiles across digital and offline channels.

Akhil Doegar, chief executive, Navigator, said: "We have big ambitions to grow and empower financial advisers to better serve their customers. We will enable them with tools, insights and products tailored to their needs. Recruiting the best talent is critical for our mission to become a wealth platform promising greater reliability, expanded product offerings and enhanced portfolio management capabilities for all our clients".

Pearlyn Phau, group chief executive, Singlife with Aviva, said: "We want to continue to refresh and enhance Singlife's offerings for a diverse clientele, including the high net-worth segment, licensed family offices and retail customers. This will allow us to accelerate our growth, expand our product suite and build on our core insurance offering to provide a better way to financial freedom for our customers. Navigator will be key to enabling this." 

On 12 Aug 2022, Navigator will launch IGNITE, a quarterly showcase of the company's achievements and market updates. Senior economists will speak at the inaugural event focussing on how financial advisers can weather the storm amid rising economic uncertainty. 

Navigator also plans to engage advisers through other touchpoints, including monthly sessions to learn the latest trends in finance, as well as regular closed-door discussions with senior business leaders.

DWS Group

DWS Group is strengthening its executive board with two new members: Karen Kuder will join the board as chief administrative Officer, Angela Maragkopoulou will become the chief operating officer. They will take over from Mark Cullen, who will step down from DWS's executive board at the end of the year. Going forward, the body will consist of three women and four men.  

"With Karen Kuder and Angela Maragkopoulou, we are gaining two experts who have shown an outstanding performance in their respective areas of expertise and who will help shape the further development of DWS," said Karl von Rohr, chairman of the Supervisory Board of DWS. "We ensure personnel clarity at an early stage and an orderly handover. At the same time, we are strengthening the Executive Board in a targeted manner with excellent legal and technological skills. These hires show the attractiveness of the DWS franchise." 

Karen Kuder has been chief counsel of Deutsche Bank since May 2020, where she restructured the legal department, supervised the governance of the Deutsche Bank Group and reached significant settlements with regulators in Germany, Europe and the US.

Previously, she was responsible for Deutsche Bank's management structures worldwide (Chief Governance Officer) from 2018. 
Angela Maragkopoulou was most recently chief information officer B2B and senior vice president B2B and Data Analytics at Deutsche Telekom IT GmbH.

She is responsible for the development of software solutions for Cash Management Cycle and Assurance processes at Telekom Germany and T-Systems. She also led the Advanced Data Analytics division and accompanied the Telekom IT Hub for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics.

Prior to joining Deutsche Telekom IT GmbH, Maragkopoulou spent 19 years in various national and international leadership roles at Vodafone, most recently as Global Head of Internet of Things (IoT) and Software Defined Networks (SDX) Operations.

Kuder will join the executive board of DWS on November 1, 2022, and Maragkopoulou will follow on January 1, 2023.  The appointments are subject to approval by the supervisory authorities.

At the same time, Mark Cullen will step down from the DWS executive board at the end of the year and leave the firm after 30 years of "exceptional service" to the Deutsche Bank Group after a transition period in spring 2023. 

HSBC

HSBC has appointed Patrick Boumalham as its new global head of wealth sales within its markets division, effective in September, according to an internal memo seen by Reuters and confirmed by a company spokesperson.

He replaces Antony Shaw, HSBC's global head of wealth sales who was named the CEO of HSBC Australia two weeks ago.

The move will expand Boumalham's current responsibilities as head of wealth sales for Asia Pacific at the bank, and he will continue to be based in Singapore.

He will report to Allegra Berman, global head of institutional sales & co-head of securities services and to Sridhar Narayan, head of markets & securities services, ASEAN.

HSBC has also promoted its current co-head of Credit Sales in Asia Pacific Wan Sze Loh to lead institutional sales for the Asia Pacific region, also effective in September, according to the same memo.

Loh will be based in Hong Kong and report to Berman and Monish Tahilramani, global head of emerging markets, Japan & Australia at the bank's markets & securities services.

Fidelius Group 

Fidelius Group, the independent chartered financial planning firm, today announces the appointment of Neil Buckland as head of commercial. He will be based in Fidelius' Bath headquarters and will support offices around the country. He will report to CEO, Jim Grant.

At Fidelius, Buckland will be responsible for driving organic growth through the sales teams of the four major business propositions: wealth management, employee benefits, corporate wealth and mortgages.

Prior to joining Fidelius, he was head of sales at Octopus Investments for more than 12 years where he grew the sales team from around a dozen staff to a team of 110 and oversaw growth in assets from £1bn to £12bn. 

Before he joined Octopus, Neil spent more than 20 years at Allied Dunbar/Zurich where he held a number of roles, including adviser, sales trainer, business and management development consultant. For the final 10 years, he ran half of Zurich's 200 strong IFA consultant team and set up its successful telephone sales function.

Buckland takes on his new role from Duncan McKillop, who is promoted to a more strategic role in the business as Director of Corporate Development, working closely with Jim Grant, and will be responsible for driving a new acquisition proposition for Fidelius. 

Stonehage Fleming

Stonehage Fleming, the international family office, has named Dena Brumpton and Michael Solomon to the group board. 

Brumpton is the former chief executive of Barclays' Savings, Investments and Wealth Management division and sat on Barclays' UK executive committee. She spent the majority of her executive career at Citigroup, most recently as the global chief operating officer of the Private Bank.

She currently sits on the Board of Scottish Widows Schroders Personal Wealth, Maitland Group, Churchill Capital V (NYSE). She is also an adviser to Mirabaud & Cie, UK and formerly served on Cancer Research UK's Women of Influence Board and was a member of British Airways International Business Advisory Board.

Michael Solomon joined the group board in April, following the successful completion of Stonehage Fleming's acquisition of Maitland's Private Client Services business. 

He is a corporate and commercial lawyer with extensive experience in cross border mergers and acquisitions, international tax and corporate finance. Michael's appointment follows his previous roles as chairman and more recently as non-executive director of the Maitland Group. 

Lowes Financial Management 

A new wealth manager has been appointed at leading North East financial advisory firm, Lowes Financial Management, as the company continues to build a strong team to drive its ambitious growth strategy.

Michael Stowe, 36, has been appointed to the role at a time of wider restructure and ongoing expansion at Lowes.

In his role as wealth manager, Stowe will be involved in developing his relationships with current and new clients, working from both the Newcastle and Middlesbrough offices.

He has been part of the wider Lowes team for almost 10 years, starting in an administration role and working his way up, learning the business in various roles before becoming a Lowes Consultant. 

DC Advisory

DC Advisory, an international investment bank has hired former Spark Capital Head of Investment Banking, Abhijit Chiripal, as managing director - head of financial services and sponsor coverage, based in Mumbai.

Abhijit joins the firm with over 19 years' investment banking experience, in which he built out a leading mid-market Financial Services practice, raised many rounds of private capital and closed several M&A transactions.