Fund Finance Association

APAC Committee Members

APAC Executive Committee

Danielle Roman

Chair

Mourant

Danielle Roman

Partner | Mourant

Danielle is a Partner in Mourant’s Banking and Finance team in Hong Kong, having practiced in Asia for over 15 years. She advises on a broad spectrum of cross-border transactions, including asset finance (with particular expertise in aviation and shipping finance), fund financing, acquisition and leveraged finance, debt restructurings, project finance, FinTech and general corporate lending.

In fund financing, she regularly represents investment and commercial banks on subscription credit facilities. She is also Co-Head of the Asia-Pacific Executive Committee for the Fund Finance Association, and is on the board of directors of Women in Fund Finance Asia. Danielle has been recognised for her work in fund finance through awards such as the Dee Dee Skylar Women in Fund Finance Award 2020.

Prior to joining Mourant in 2012, she worked at Clifford Chance in Hong Kong and Dentons in London.

Harunari, Makiko (Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP)

Makiko Harunari

Deputy Chair

Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP

Makiko Harunari

Partner | Head of Asia Banking and Credit | Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP

Makiko Harunari is a Partner and Head of the Asia Banking and Credit Practice at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP. Based in Simpson Thacher’s Hong Kong office, Makiko concentrates on complex cross-border financing transactions throughout the Asia-Pacific region, leading a team with multi-lingual capabilities and deep transactional expertise in providing liquidity solutions at all levels of the capital structure. Makiko’s practice includes a broad mix of fund finance, private credit, acquisition finance, back-leverage and other innovative financing products. With deep knowledge of the alternative asset management sector and the fund structure, she regularly advises Simpson Thacher’s prominent financial sponsor clientele on matters in connection with the formation and ongoing operations of their investment vehicles, including subscription and NAV facilities.

A recognized industry leader and named to China Business Law Journal’s “The A-List,” Makiko is recognized by key legal publications including Chambers Asia-Pacific, IFLR1000 and The Legal 500 Asia Pacific. She also currently serves as the Deputy Chair of the Asia Pacific Executive Committee of the Fund Finance Association.

James Abbott

Partner

Corrs Chambers Westgarth

Paul Aherne

Partner

Walkers

Paul Aherne

Partner | Walkers

Paul is a partner in Walkers' Global Finance and Corporate Group. Paul has extensive experience of debt financing transactions in Asia acting for financial institutions, private equity sponsors, investors and corporates. He specialises in advising in relation to the Cayman Islands, British Virgin Islands and Bermuda law aspects of fund finance, leveraged and acquisition finance, real estate finance, structured equity finance (including margin loans and equity derivatives), private credit, special situations and general secured and unsecured lending. Paul has over a decade of experience working on fund financing matters in Asia for regional and global lender and sponsor clients. As the market has grown he has been involved in many of the largest and most innovative fund financing transactions.

Paul joined Walkers in 2011 after working in both Hong Kong and Tokyo as a senior associate in the Banking Group of Allen & Overy.

Darren Choy

Head of Financial Sponsors, Singapore

ANZ Bank

Fi Dinh

Managing Director, Head of Fund Finance APAC

MUFG Investor Services

Fi Dinh

Managing Director, Head of Fund Finance APAC | MUFG Investor Services

Fi is Managing Director, Head of Fund Finance APAC at MUFG Investor Services where she lead the expansion of the firm’s fund financing business across Asia Pacific, as well as supporting the growth of the asset servicing and fund administration business globally to assist private capital funds with their liquidity and operational needs.

Fi is a familiar face of the fund finance community globally having supported the growth of this sector for over a decade across the US, Europe, Middle East and Asia markets. She was recognized in The Drawdown’s ‘Most Influential Fund Finance Experts of 2022’ globally. Fi is also active in supporting diversity and next generation development in the industry. She was one of the first members of the Women in Fund Finance Europe committee when she was in London and is co-chair of the Women in Fund Finance APAC since 2020.

Fi pioneered the global trend of ESG-linked fund finance facilities when she led the world’s first ESG-linked subscription credit facility in 2019, marrying the sustainability-linked loan technology that was gaining momentum in other sectors at individual company or asset level, to a portfolio framework that can be applied to PE funds even at the beginning stage of their lifecycle. She sits on the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) Financial Centre Advisory Panel (FCAP) – Green Finance working group for the fund management industry since 2020.

Fi moved to Singapore from London at the start of 2019 to help build out the fund and insurance finance business for ING Bank across in APAC and led a rapid expansion of the business within a short few years, by offering creative solutions to GPs, drawing on her extensive experience with market terms in the US and Europe to promote alignments and scalability for the product in the APAC region. Before ING, Fi spent nearly a decade at Barclays in London and Dubai, where she was Director in the Financial Institutions Group and helped build a successful Private Equity coverage franchise supporting financial sponsors and alternative asset managers in EMEA and the US. Her earlier banking career spans across credit analysis, operational risk and project management in the investment banking and corporate banking divisions.

Tom Kirby

Managing Director | Head of Fund Finance

Bank of China

Tom Kirby

Managing Director | Head of Fund Finance | Bank of China

Tom joined Bank of China in Sydney in February 2020 and is a Managing Director heading up their fund finance business.

With more than 20 years’ banking experience with HSBC, Commonwealth Bank of Australia and Bank of China, Tom’s background includes delivery of subscription and asset-based financing, transactional banking, risk management and global markets products to many of the world largest fund managers.

Tom has built a market-wide reputation for his strengths in relationship management and deal execution with the world’s largest financial Institutions.

Sally Little

Head of Financial Institutions Lending APAC

ING Bank N.V.

Sally Little

Head of Financial Institutions Lending APAC | ING Bank N.V.

Sally is a fund finance specialist, who has been a contributor to the industry for more than 17 years. Whilst the majority of her career to date has been spent in London, she has also worked in New York and is now based in Singapore, leading ING’s Financial Institutions Lending business for APAC being responsible for Fund Finance, as well as loans and limits to Banks, Insurers and NBFIs. ING are pioneers in the sustainable finance space, and Sally has initiated a number of sustainable capital call financings both in Europe and APAC. Sally is a member of the FFA’s Executive Committee for APAC.

Terrance Philips

Albert Tan

Partner and Co-Head of Fund Finance

Haynes Boone

Albert Tan

Partner and Co-Head of Fund Finance | Haynes Boone

Albert Tan is a Partner and Co-Head of the Global Fund Finance Group with Haynes and Boone, LLP. Albert also currently on Haynes Boone’s Executive Committee, Board of Directors and Partners Compensation Committee.

Albert has represented investment and commercial banks, as agents and arrangers in more than 600 subscription secured credit facilities with total value of over $200 billion to Asia, US, Europe, Latin America and global real estate, infrastructure, debt, buyout and energy private equity funds, including structuring and documenting some of the first subscription financing to real estate private equity funds in Japan, Greater China, Singapore and Korea and to some of the largest global infrastructure funds and Asia-focused buyout funds; and during the global financial crises of 2007-2008, Albert was one of few fund finance attorneys who represented lenders in the successful enforcement of subscription financing defaults against PE funds and their investors.

The National Law Journal selected Albert to its inaugural list of Finance, Banking and Capital Markets Trailblazers in 2019, Euromoney Expert Guides, Euromoney Institutional Investor 2012, listed him as a “Leading Practitioner” in its Guide to Leading Practitioners: International Private Equity, U.S., and the Minority Corporate Counsel Association recognized Albert as a 2021 MCCA Rainmaker for his outstanding leadership, business acumen, passion and dedication to proactive client development.

Albert serves as a member of the US Advisory Committee and Asia Pacific Executive Committee of the Fund Finance Association.

Albert received his BA from San Diego State University and his JD and LLM from Southern Methodist University and Georgetown University; and speaks Chinese (Mandarin).

Emma Wang

Deputy General Manager of HK Branch

East West Bank

Emma Wang

Deputy General Manager of HK Branch | East West Bank

Emma is Deputy General Manager at East West Bank Hong Kong Branch, overseeing all corporate and commercial banking including fund finance. She is the founder of East West Bank’s Private Equity Group in Asia, specialising in providing customised and creative transactions to PE/VC firms. Previously, Emma is a managing partner at TR Capital Group, leading the firm’s strategies to provide non-dilutive NAV solutions to both GPs and LPs. Emma also worked at Comerica Bank Equity Fund Services Group for 5 years, responsible for developing client relationships in the US. She started her career as a credit analyst at MUFG’s New York office. Emma holds a Master’s in Finance from Brandeis International Business School, and a B.A. from Osaka Prefecture University. Emma is trilingual, speaking Chinese, Japanese and English.

Frank Wu

Senior Vice President, Institutional Investors

DBS Bank

Frank Wu

Senior Vice President, Institutional Investors | DBS Bank

Frank Wu is a Senior Vice President & Team Lead (North Asia) in the Funds & Asset Managers sector of DBS Bank in Singapore. He and the Funds & Asset Managers team provide a comprehensive suite of financial solutions across cash management, fund administration & custody service, hedging, capital market and financing to a wide spectrum of asset managers covering global/traditional funds, boutique, pension and alternative investments funds (private equity and hedge funds) and family offices.

As a founding member of the team, he is instrumental in building up DBS’ fund finance business and has partnered with GPs and investors to provide bespoke fund finance solutions throughout the fund lifecycle. He is an active member of the fund finance community and serves as a member of the APAC Executive Committee of the Fund Finance Association, where he supports the investment funds market within the APAC.

He joined DBS as a Management Associate in 2011 and had previous roles in finance, internal audit and financial institutions group of DBS in Asia. He also serves as a Council Member for the Graduate Associate Program of DBS Institutional Banking Group.

He holds an MBA from Chicago Booth School of Business and BSc (Hons) in Statistics from National University of Singapore.

APAC Advisory Council

Fabrice Guesde

Head of Credit Markets and Global Structured Credit & Solutions, Asia Pacific

Natixis

Fabrice Guesde

Head of Credit Markets and Global Structured Credit & Solutions, Asia Pacific | Natixis

Fabrice Guesde took up his role as Head of Credit Markets, Asia Pacific, in January 2021, and was appointed Head of Global Structured Credit & Solutions (GSCS), Asia Pacific in April 2016. Based in Hong Kong, he is responsible for overseeing the development of Natixis’ structured credit solution offering in the region, including across asset-backed securities (ABS), collateralized loan obligations (CLOs), capital call facilities and fund financings, and a range of bank and insurance regulatory solutions. Fabrice has over 25 years’ experience. He began his career in 1989 at Manufacturers Hanover Bank (now JPMorgan Chase), based in Paris, and in 1991 joined Bayerische Landesbank, Paris Branch as Head of Credit and then Head of Structured Credit & Syndication. In 1996 he moved to Commerzbank as Head of Corporate Banking and Structured Credits, France, and in 2003 he joined European IT business-to-business service provider Econocom as Group Financial Director. He joined Natixis in 2006 as Head of Commercial Coordination in the Structured Finance and Market platform, and in 2008 was appointed Head of Debt Engineering. In 2011, Fabrice was named Head of Credit & Insurance Solutions as part of the creation of the GSCS business line, subsequently overseeing the setup and development of Natixis’ capital call and fund financing business for Europe. Fabrice is a graduate of Institut d’Etudes Politiques, Paris, and holds a Master of Law degree from University of Paris II. In addition to French, he speaks English, German and Dutch.

Bo Hanson

Head of Global Fund Banking

HSBC Innovation Banking

Lucas Huang

Head, Global Private Capital Funds Coverage

OCBC Bank

Lucas Huang

Head, Global Private Capital Funds Coverage | OCBC Bank

Lucas is Head of Global Private Capital Funds Coverage at OCBC Bank. His team provides end-to-end financial solutions to alternative funds, spanning across cash management, fund financing, asset financing, hedging and distribution. Prior to his current role, Lucas accumulated more than a decade of investment management experience. He was previously a Deal Committee member in OCBC Bank’s Mezzanine Capital Fund, an Investment Partner at Kendall Court Capital Partners and Head of Upstream Oil & Gas Research at DNB Securities Asia. Lucas holds Bachelor’s degrees in Economics and Business Management (Finance) from Singapore Management University.

Steven Mansy

Head of Fund Finance Origination EMEA

Macquarie Group

Soumitro Mukerji

Partner

Mayer Brown

Soumitro Mukerji

Partner | Mayer Brown

Soumitro Mukerji is a partner in the Banking & Finance practice in Mayer Brown's Singapore office. He advises banks, financial institutions, funds, corporates and financial advisors across the credit and geographic spectrum. His practice covers leveraged and acquisition financing, fund-level financing, structured lending and general corporate finance.

Soumitro is particularly strong on highly complex cross-border finance transactions, including senior, TLA/TLB, mezzanine, PIK and super senior/unitranche structures. He also has in-depth knowledge of fund-level finance. He routinely advises financiers and fund managers on a wide range of fund financing transactions across all asset classes, including subscription line financings, umbrella facilities, NAVs, hybrids, GP facilities and other forms of liquidity solutions. Since 2019, he has advised on fund finance matters exceeding US$8 billion in value.

Soumitro is an active member of the fund finance community and sits on the APAC Advisory Council of the FFA, where he supports the investment funds market within the APAC.

Mathieu Rabiller

Managing Director

HSBC

Henry Wong

Executive Director

J.P. Morgan Private Bank

Jean Woo

Office Managing Partner, Singapore

Ashurst