A question of commitment to the 'United States of Asia'
We hear that Claire Huang, global head of international marketing and corporate affairs at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, is leaving. Her arrival in April last year was trumpeted as a commitment to Asia by the firm since she was its first global head to be based in the region. She leaves after just over a year to take on a massive job as chief marketing officer for JPMorgan in New York.
Her task of rebuilding the marketing and corporate affairs team in Asia and building up the brand was supposed to be a two-year appointment. Her replacement is expected to be based in the US rather than Asia. Those who work with her say that not having previous Asian experience made her task more challenging.
As she said in an interview with the Asian Wall Street Journal in October, 'I guess I had in the back of my mind that this is the United States of Asia. But it's not. That's such an American way of thinking.' This Sarah-Palin-like comment raised some eyebrows. Not everyone is convinced that her task of rebuilding the brand in Asia was a success. Her departure was a big surprise for the company and possibly for readers of her interview in the AWSJ who might recall her comment that 'we need to show we're here for the long term and we're committed to our clients ...'
Grace Kataoka, who was appointed by Huang as head of Asia-Pacific corporate social responsibility, is also leaving the company after just one year in the position.
Fear of flying free
We have been alerted to an interesting wrinkle in the case of Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen and the two holiday trips he took on private jets. Readers will recall that several months ago, Tsang admitted flying to Phuket with his wife on a private jet. He then made great play of saying that he paid for the trips. 'I always pay for the trip at the market price, even though this may give an impression of being petty-minded,' he had said on RTHK.