IFR Asia – December 08, 2018

People

&Markets

SGX makes

international

appointments

SINGAPORE EXCHANGE has made several internal

appointments and external hires as the

bourse operator looks to position itself to

win more global business.

Mohamed Nasser Ismail has been appointed

head of equity capital markets, effective

January 1. Nasser, who was previously

head of ECM for small and medium-sized

enterprises, overseeing listings on SGX’s

Catalist board, will now have oversight of

main board listings as well.

He will replace Simon Lim, who has

been appointed senior vice president for

membership and international coverage

in Hong Kong. Lim is due to relocate

sometime next year and will oversee the

exchange’s sales efforts in Hong Kong.

Meanwhile, SGX has made several

new hires in the US. Michael Avila, who

has previously served as director in the

global listings group of the New York

Stock Exchange, has been appointed

vice president for membership and

international coverage in San Francisco.

His appointment comes after SGX

announced plans in October to open new

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SGX has also hired Thomas Connors as

senior vice president for membership

and international coverage in New York.

Connors is a 19-year veteran of UBS and has

also worked at Bear Stearns.

Craig Cohen has also joined as senior

vice president for membership and

international coverage in Chicago. He

was previously with Jefferies and has also

worked at Morgan Stanley and JP Morgan.

Meanwhile, Chia Caihan has also relocated

to Beijing to become chief representative

there. He has spent 14 years with SGX.

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looks to increase its share of international

listings. It has signed partnerships this

YEARûWITHûRIVALûBOURSESûINCLUDINGûTHEû4EL

Aviv Stock Exchange and New Zealand’s

Exchange to try to this end.

In June, SGX introduced new rules to

allow companies with weighted voting

rights to launch IPOs in the city in order to

attract more technology listings. So far no

companies have listed under the new rules,

although Jubilant Pharma, a subsidiary

of India’s Jubilant Life Sciences, was

previously said to be considering a potential

listing with WVRs.

THOMAS BLOTT

Who’s moving where...

„ AXIS CAPITAL has

appointed Chirag

Negandhi (pictured)

and Salil Pitale as joint

managing directors

and co-CEOs after

previous managing

director and CEO

Dharmesh Mehta left

the firm to pursue

other interests.

Neghandi and Pitale

have been co-heads

of investment

banking since 2016.

The appointments are

subject to regulatory

approval.

Pitale has been with

Axis Capital and Axis

Bank since 1999 and

Negandhi since 2005.

Axis Capital is a

subsidiary of Axis

Bank.

„ Craig Askham has

joined as a director

at MIZUHO BANK in

Sydney.

Askham started in

November and will

be responsible for

coverage of the real

estate sector.

Before joining

Mizuho, he was a

senior relationship

manager at DBS Bank

in Sydney for slightly

over three years. He

previously worked at

JP Morgan in Sydney

and London for nearly

14 years.

In June, SGX introduced new

rules to allow companies with

weighted voting rights to

launch IPOs in the city in order

to attract more technology

listings.