Rajeev De Mello

Bank of Singapore has announced that Rajeev De Mello has joined the Bank and will take on the role of chief investment officer (CIO), pending regulatory approval. He will report to Marc Van de Walle, global head of products.

As the CIO, De Mello, 52, will oversee the research and investment strategy teams – one of the largest in Asia – that produce Bank of Singapore's house views across and within all financial asset classes. He will be the chairman of the Bank's investment committee that decides on the global strategic and tactical asset allocations calls for clients.

De Mello will also manage the bank's discretionary portfolio management (DPM), a service which is becoming more popular with clients who recognise that they are not able to monitor the markets closely and prefer to leave their investments in the hands of professional managers. The Bank's DPM's assets under management (AUM) grew 30% in 2017 and its penetration rate of DPM is higher than other private banks in Asia.

A Swiss national, De Mello brings with him more than 30 years of experience in global financial markets with a strong record in emerging and developed market bonds, currencies, precious metals and derivatives and risk allocation between asset classes.

In Asia, where he has spent a total of 14 years, De Mello has worked in Hong Kong and Singapore. This included managing trading teams during the Asian Financial Crisis and the Global Financial Crisis.

Based in Singapore since 2005, he was most recently the head of Asian Fixed Income and co-head of emerging market debt at Schroders Investment Management overseeing the investment teams in Singapore, Hong Kong, Jakarta Taipei and Tokyo.

In Singapore, De Mello has channeled his experience to the development of the country's investment and fund management industry.