CITI Private Bank has appointed Julie Koo as head of Citi investment management (CIM) sales for Asia-Pacific, effective immediately.

In this role, she will lead sales of the Private Bank’s discretionary investment management capabilities in the region, covering equities, fixed income and multi-asset class mandates, as well as sales of third-party mutual fund, hedge fund, private equity and real estate offerings.

Koo is based in Hong Kong and reports to Roger Bacon, head of investments for Asia-Pacific, as well as Stephanie Luedke and Dan O’Donnell, global heads of CIM and CIM alternatives respectively. She succeeds Adam Proctor, who was appointed global market manager for Singapore, Australia and New Zealand in February this year.

A veteran in the asset management business with more than 23 years’ experience, Koo was most recently at UBS where she was the head of institutional distribution for Asia-Pacific and head of the overall Hong Kong business for UBS Asset Management.

She started her career as an investment specialist in international/global equities at Fidelity in Boston, before moving to London as an executive director for Fidelity’s institutional business for Europe, the Middle East and Africa. She moved with Fidelity to Hong Kong in 2006 as managing director and head of institutional business for Asia ex-Japan and subsequently, spent five years in a similar role at HSBC Asset Management in Hong Kong.

Commenting on the appointment, Roger Bacon says, “Julie is well-regarded as a senior leader within the investments industry in Asia and we are delighted to benefit from her exceptional top-tier experience in leading asset management firms. She will be invaluable in helping us drive the growth of our investment management business in Asia, which represents a major component of our best-in-class Investments platform. Her wealth of experience across traditional, multi-asset, hedge fund and real asset investments, as well as her track record in driving successful sales teams will help propel our business to the next level.”