Speakers SG

Oliver is a banking professional with more than 20 years of experience as a senior banker and leader of high performing private banking teams. His guiding principle to success is his client centric approach and his deep understanding of cultural diversity. Oliver has been in Asia for the most part of his career and his responsibilities and coverage span beyond Switzerland and London. He has also developed and expanded the private banking business of a banking institution in London and was responsible for setting up the private banking department of a newly created bank in Singapore besides managing his own clients. As a senior banker, Oliver has lead several successful teams of private bankers with clients located in Europe, South East Asia, India, South America and segments such as the External Asset Managers and Global South Asian. 

Oliver holds a degree from the University of Lausanne Switzerland, an MBA from Cass Business School London and a specialisation from both the London Business School and Columbia Business School New York. Oliver is also a member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing
 

Rohit is the CEO of Crossinvest (Asia) Pte Ltd, a family owned independent asset management company with a 10 year presence in Asia. Crossinvest has deep roots out of Switzerland with a strong presence, through its headquarters in Lugano, of over 30 years.

With over 25 years of experience across eight key markets globally, Rohit has extensive knowledge in Asset management, investment banking and private wealth management. Prior to joining Crossinvest (Asia) as the CEO, 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.

Rohit has held senior leadership and strategic roles over the past 14 years spanning multiple layers and levels of accountability - From that of a Chief Executive with complete accountability of delivering the culture, strategies and business profitability to being a board member responsible for setting the strategies and business goals and having the ultimate accountability to the shareholders, clients and the regulators.

While Australia is home, he has operated out of South Africa since 2000 and Asia since 2005. Rohit has developed a deep understanding of the culture and the inherent nuances driving each economy within Asia, in particular within the private wealth industry.
 

Michael Blake is Chief Executive Private Banking Asia for Union Bancaire Privée (UBP), a family-owned private bank and asset manager headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. In this capacity, Michael is responsible for the leadership and development of UBP’s private banking business in Asia. He brings to the role a track record of leading cross-cultural teams during periods of growth and transformational change.

Michael joined UBP in 2016 upon its successful acquisition of Coutts International. Prior to this, he was Chief Executive of Coutts International, with responsibility for leading its international wealth management business and overseeing its integration with UBP in Europe and Asia.

Michael has lived in Asia for much of the past two decades and is active in various international affairs forums. He read Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Oxford University and studied Mandarin in Beijing.
 

Nirman has over 10 years of experience in financial services industry. He started as a Management Associate in Citibank Delhi in Global Transaction Services business. He also worked with Institutional Markets business in Citibank Mumbai. He then moved with Citibank Singapore specialising in fixed income asset class for the Private Bank and Retail Bank businesses. He was part of the investment team helping to formulate Fixed Income and Credit Investment Strategy for the Wealth Business, and was responsible for risk management and idea generation as well as financial performance of the business. 

At Taurus, Nirman is actively involved in managing client portfolios and formulating investment strategies. His expertise lies in fixed income. He also covers Equity and FX markets. He takes a fundamental approach to analysing investments. 

Nirman graduated from University of Mumbai with a degree in Computer Sc. Engineering. He attained further a degree in Business (Finance) from Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur.

Johan has been a regular presenter at this forum. He has 24 years of market experience in South Africa, the United Kingdom and Asia. He has covered global fixed income markets as portfolio manager and analyst, as well as running multi-asset portfolios and research teams across the various jurisdictions.

Wai Meng has been with Bank Julius Baer for over 8 years in the Structured Product desk in Singapore, structuring solutions for clients with structured product needs.

Prior to joining Bank Julius Baer, Wai Meng spent 10 years in Citigroup Private Bank.

Wai Meng holds Master degrees in both Financial Engineering and Business Administration (Finance) from National University of Singapore.
 

Long Lee is the CEO of Vontobel Limited, Hong Kong and Head Financial Products for APAC. Long joined Vontobel in February 2018, having most recently served as CEO of Leonteq Securities Hong Kong. Long has over 15 years of experience in derivatives trading and sales and has led senior management teams that advised institutional investors, private banks, family offices and financial intermediaries in Greater China, Hong Kong, Japan and Korea. Long’s focus at Vontobel is to develop and expand the structured products business across key markets in APAC

His past experience includes working as trader at Bank of China International and BBVA, among other institutions.

Long holds degrees in Economics and Statistics from Berkeley and Harvard respectively.

Mandeep Nalwa is a wealth advisor with over 20 years of banking experience. He has managed High Net Worth client relationships across Asia with leading private banks like HSBC, Merrill Lynch and Citibank. He has been the primary advisor on large client portfolios and has been responsible for suitable development and implementation of customised investment advice and portfolio management. Prior to setting up Taurus, Mandeep had spent most of his career with various private banks in the Asia-Pacific region with specific exposure to Equities, Fixed Income, Currencies, Derivatives and Managed Assets.

As the Chief Executive Officer of Taurus Wealth Advisors Pte. Ltd. in Singapore, advising High Net Worth Individuals within the framework of a multi-family office, Mandeep has successfully built up a team of experienced financial advisors, providing unbiased investment advice to the wealthy with total assets under advice currently in excess of USD 1.7 Billion. Mandeep is a member of the founding committee of the Association of Independent Asset Managers (AIAM) in Singapore. He is an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, India and the Sriram College of Commerce, Delhi India University.
 

Nicolas looks after the Wealth Management Products & Sales team in Singapore, and has 15 years of experience in derivatives. Before joining Standard Chartered Bank in 2009, Nicolas held various positions as a solutions sales and interest rate derivative trader in Tokyo, London and Singapore. 
Nicolas has an engineering degree from Ecole des Mines, ParisTech.
 

Mr Roger Studer is Head of Vontobel Investment Banking and Member of Vontobel’s Group Executive Board. Mr Studer, who started his career at Vontobel in 1984, was appointed Head of Warrants and Options Trading in 1992 and Head of Market Making Derivative Products in 1995. In 1997, Mr Studer was Head of Private Clients Austria of DG Bank AG (Switzerland), Head of Quantitative Asset Allocation of Rentenanstalt/Swiss Life in 1999 and Head of Portfolio Management and Research of ABN AMRO Bank AG (Switzerland) until 2000. In 2001, Mr Studer was appointed by Vontobel as Head of Risk Management and Development of Derivative Products and Head of Financial Products in 2003. In 2008, Mr Studer was appointed Head of Vontobel Investment Banking and joined the Group Executive Board of Vontobel. He serves as Vice President of the European Structured Investment Products Association (Eusipa) in Brussels, Belgium. Mr Studer holds an MBA from Rochester-Berne and is Swiss Certified Financial Analyst and Portfolio Manager (CI A), Swiss Certified Expert in Finance and Investments (CIWM).

Georg von Wattenwyl has been at Vontobel since 1998. As head of financial products advisory and distribution since 2007, he is responsible for the global sales of Vontobel's financial products and has been jointly responsible for the development of and trading in derivative products from the outset. Today, Vontobel structured products are distributed in Switzerland, Germany and the UK as well as beyond the continental boundaries in Singapore and Dubai.

Before joining Vontobel, Georg held several positions at Credit Suisse where he worked as a fixed income specialist for several years. He is certified banking expert and graduated from the executive programme of the Swiss Banking School and the international executive programme of INSEAD in both Fontainebleau (France) and Singapore. Since October 2010, he has been a committee member of the Swiss Structured Products Association (SSPA) and was appointed vice president in September 2011. He was subsequently appointed president of the SSPA in October 2014.