Prudential’s asset management business, Eastspring Investments, has officially named its next chief executive officer.
Bill Maldonado, who had been serving as interim CEO following Wai-Kwong Seck’s April retirement, will become the permanent CEO effective September 1.
Eastspring, Prudential’s Singapore-based investment manager, oversees approximately $221 billion in assets in Asia and beyond.
Maldonado joined the firm in September 2021 and was named chief investment officer in May 2022. He oversaw the firm’s strategies across equities, fixed income, multi-asset, quantitative and alternatives, according to the announcement. Eastspring has yet to name his replacement as CIO, but according to its announcement, will do so “in due course.”
Prior to joining Eastspring, Maldonado served as Asia Pacific CIO and global CIO of equities at HSBC global asset management.
Over the past year, Eastspring has made some key hires, adding directors to its quantitative investment, fixed income, and credit teams.
In January Eastspring announced that Clement Chong had joined as a credit manager from NN Investment Partners, where he previously served as head of research. Benedict Phua, meanwhile, joined as director of fixed income from Standard Chartered Bank, where he served as executive director. Jamie Tay also joined as director and client portfolio manager of the Asian fixed income team.
A few months later, Eastspring tapped Michael (Xiaochen) Sun as its director of quantitative capabilities.
These new hires coincided with a push to grow U.S. institutional investor access to Eastspring’s strategies. In March, Eastspring launched two comingled pooled vehicles — collective investment trusts focusing on global emerging markets equity and global low volatility equity, respectively.
The investment manager has plans to expand the lineup to include its China A Shares growth equity strategy as well.
