19 September 2017

Manulife AM hires Emmanuel Bucaille to head up wealth solutions in Asia

Published by Asia Asset Management – 19th Sep 2017

Manulife Asset Management (Manulife AM) has appointed Emmanuel Bucaille to the newly created position of senior managing director, head of wealth solutions, wealth and asset management, Asia.

He brings to the firm over 30 years of financial services industry experience, the majority of which was spent with Swiss global financial services outfit UBS in Europe and Asia; his most recent position at the company was as head of investment products and the services operating office for UBS Wealth Management Europe.

Mr. Bucaille will be stationed in Hong Kong in his new role at Manulife AM, reporting to Michael Dommermuth, the company’s executive vice president and head of wealth and asset management, Asia. Margaret Madden, managing director and head of product development, who joined the firm in April this year, and Michelle Ng, managing director, head of investment consulting services, wealth and asset management, Asia, will report to Mr. Bucaille.

According to a September 18 company statement, Mr. Bucaille will have regional oversight in formulating, articulating and implementing wealth solutions as well as product strategies for Manulife.

He will spearhead the effort to more closely align Manulife AM’s wealth solutions to customers’ actual financial objectives, and to further harness Manulife’s private asset capabilities as part of those solutions. His remit also includes manager selection, performance monitoring and asset manager reviews for Manulife’s managed architecture platform.

In the statement, Mr. Dommermuth says: “Through the direct interactions Manulife’s 71,000 agents have with our customers in Asia, as well as the intelligence we garnered from our fast-growing bank partnerships, we are cognisant of the need for more customised wealth solutions in the region to better help investors achieve their diverse objectives.”

Mr. Bucaille will have direct ownership over wealth solutions, from product idea generation to development and implementation, as well as platform management, in his new role, according to the statement.

Mr. Dommermuth adds: “The assets under management for our wealth and asset management business in Asia have been growing to exceed US$117 billion [as of June 30, 2017]. Leveraging our public and private market capabilities, our insurance heritage and retirement expertise, we focus squarely on delivering objective-oriented solutions to our clients with diverse needs. With vast experience in wealth management and product development across multiple platforms, Emmanuel is the right leader to head up the wealth solutions function to support our continued growth.”

Manulife AM is the global asset management arm of Canadian insurance giant Manulife. As of June 30 this year, Manulife AM had approximately $370 billion in AUM.