Asia’s Private Wealth Leaders – Embracing Growth in the Post-Pandemic World

Vincent Magnenat, Limited Partner, is Chief Executive Officer of Lombard Odier in Asia. Vincent has spearheaded the growth and expansion of Lombard Odier’s private banking business since joining the firm in 2012, contributing heavily to raising its visibility and overseeing solid growth in assets under management. He was invited to be a Limited Partner of the Group in February 2018. He has also been a key architect of the firm’s strategy to serve clients directly from three offices in Asia and partner with some of the region’s major financial institutions to support their goals of becoming private banking leaders in their markets while leveraging over 200 years of international wealth management expertise of Lombard Odier. Prior to joining Lombard Odier, Vincent spent close to nine years at Société Générale, one of the largest European banks. His last position was as Regional Head of Sales and Marketing for Private Banking in Asia, overseeing business development efforts across the region. Vincent began his career in international private banking at Credit Suisse in Switzerland and relocated in 2002 to Singapore. He has worked and lived in Hong Kong and Singapore for 19 years.

Jean-Paul Mergeai is President International Sales and Member of the Executive Committee. He is responsible for the strategy, growth and P&L across EMEA and APAC. Jean-Paul was appointed Managing Director in charge of the Middle-East and Africa in 2014 and successfully led the sales and operations organizations in the region. He joined Temenos' through the acquisition of Odyssey Financial Technologies in 2010 and was responsible for Temenos' Private Wealth global operations before leading our North American sales operations. Prior to Temenos, Jean-Paul held senior leadership positions at Odyssey where he managed the firm's global accounts program as well as Odyssey's North American operations. Jean-Paul moved to the financial industry when he joined Reuters in Luxembourg in 1989. A seasoned executive, he has over 30 years of experience in delivering value to banks and financial institutions. Jean-Paul started his career as an academic focusing his research on machine translation and artificial intelligence as applied to natural languages. Jean-Paul graduated from the University of Liège magna cum laude with a master's degree in Linguistics and Information Technology in 1984.

Carolyn Leng Head of Maybank Private Malaysia, Wealth Management A pioneer of Malaysia's Private Banking sphere with over 20 years of experience, Carolyn Leng is a leading authority in the country's wealth management industry. Carolyn is currently the Head of Maybank Private in Malaysia and is responsible for driving the strategic growth of the high net worth business segments for the Bank in Malaysia, while accelerating its regional expansion. This involves talent and infrastructure development, as well as formulation of impactful business strategies to deliver wealth management solutions to meet clients' financial requirements in Malaysia, and abroad. Since joining Maybank in 2019, Carolyn has been laser focused on growing Maybank Private's customer base and assets under management (AUM). Within her first year at the helm, she has successfully grown the domestic AUM by 42% as well as developed and trained a robust regional sales force of over 60 client advisors. Prior to joining Maybank Private, Carolyn was attached to CIMB Private Banking since its launch in 2002, with the last position held being Head of Private Banking in Malaysia. During the tenure, Carolyn had built and led teams to drive client relations, as well as expanded the Private Banking business by establishing presence in four new states - Penang, Sarawak, Sabah and Johor. She had also served at unit trust and mutual fund companies namely CIMB Principal Asset Management in Malaysia, and Templeton Management Limited, one of Canada's largest mutual funds, where she managed sales for the provinces of British Columbia and Alberta. Carolyn graduated with a Bachelor of Arts Degree (Hons) in Economics from the University of Toronto and has completed various Financial Planning courses.

Michael Blake is Chief Executive Wealth Management Asia for Union Bancaire Privée (UBP), a family-owned private bank and specialist asset manager headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. In this capacity, Michael is responsible for the leadership and development of UBP’s wealth management 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.

Vincent Magnenat, Limited Partner, is Chief Executive Officer of Lombard Odier in Asia. Vincent has spearheaded the growth and expansion of Lombard Odier’s private banking business since joining the firm in 2012, contributing heavily to raising its visibility and overseeing solid growth in assets under management. He was invited to be a Limited Partner of the Group in February 2018. He has also been a key architect of the firm’s strategy to serve clients directly from three offices in Asia and partner with some of the region’s major financial institutions to support their goals of becoming private banking leaders in their markets while leveraging over 200 years of international wealth management expertise of Lombard Odier. Prior to joining Lombard Odier, Vincent spent close to nine years at Société Générale, one of the largest European banks. His last position was as Regional Head of Sales and Marketing for Private Banking in Asia, overseeing business development efforts across the region. Vincent began his career in international private banking at Credit Suisse in Switzerland and relocated in 2002 to Singapore. He has worked and lived in Hong Kong and Singapore for 19 years.

Jean-Paul Mergeai is President International Sales and Member of the Executive Committee. He is responsible for the strategy, growth and P&L across EMEA and APAC. Jean-Paul was appointed Managing Director in charge of the Middle-East and Africa in 2014 and successfully led the sales and operations organizations in the region. He joined Temenos' through the acquisition of Odyssey Financial Technologies in 2010 and was responsible for Temenos' Private Wealth global operations before leading our North American sales operations. Prior to Temenos, Jean-Paul held senior leadership positions at Odyssey where he managed the firm's global accounts program as well as Odyssey's North American operations. Jean-Paul moved to the financial industry when he joined Reuters in Luxembourg in 1989. A seasoned executive, he has over 30 years of experience in delivering value to banks and financial institutions. Jean-Paul started his career as an academic focusing his research on machine translation and artificial intelligence as applied to natural languages. Jean-Paul graduated from the University of Liège magna cum laude with a master's degree in Linguistics and Information Technology in 1984.

Michael Blake is Chief Executive Wealth Management Asia for Union Bancaire Privée (UBP), a family-owned private bank and specialist asset manager headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. In this capacity, Michael is responsible for the leadership and development of UBP’s wealth management 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.

Michael has an extensive background in financial services in Asia, Europe and North America. He has been in Asia-Pacific since 1995 – first in Hong Kong for six years, then in Sydney and Singapore, returning to Hong Kong in 2007. Before setting up Hubbis in early 2009, Michael founded Pacific Prospect in 2002 and sold it to global business-to-business publisher Incisive Media in 2006, continuing to serve as Chief Executive Officer until October 2008. Prior to Pacific Prospect, Michael worked for nine years in financial markets publishing. He joined Euromoney Publications in 1993 as the publisher of a quarterly magazine, International Bond Investor. In 1995, Michael joined Thomson Financial Services (now Thomson Reuters) to conceive and launch Finance Asia magazine. While he was Managing Director of Finance Asia, Michael also started the Asian Debt Review, Asian Private Capital Magazine and started the Finance Asia Conference Business. In 1997, Michael founded FIA Limited. Born in North Wales, Michael was head boy of St David’s College Llandudno. He has a degree in Business Administration from Cardiff University. And is married with three children - Reanna, Garett and Tarryn.