The Queen Bee of hedge fund administration vanishes

Date: Monday, February 25, 2008
Author: Asian Investor.com

Joanne Murphy leaves Fortis to pursue other interests, while Stewart Bent is ushered in to cover her job as a temporary measure.

Joanne Murphy has departed from Fortis Bank in Hong Kong. According to her former employer she has left in order to pursue other interests.

She had been working as the commercial director of Fortis Bank's hedge-fund administration services in Hong Kong for just over a year and before then had been with Deutsche Asset Management's sales unit in Singapore as director of absolute-return strategies. Before then, she was with Bank of Bermuda's hedge-fund administration department. Attempts to contact her this week have been unsuccessful.

Fortis has told AsianInvestor that its hedge-fund administration department in Asia has been restructured, for reasons unrelated to her departure. The departmental coverage has been demarcated into a north and south Asia split.

As a temporary measure, Stewart Bent is covering her job across the full region. He has also been promoted to the senior commercial role in Hong Kong, bagging the title of regional director, sales and relationship management for Asia ex-Japan. In an expansion of his former role, he has picked up client relationships to complement his ongoing sales responsibilities.

In another internal move, Dan Synk has become head of operations in Hong Kong. Both gentlemen will report to Gordon Shaw, a managing director based in Hong Kong.