Matthew Arnold has been named vice president and head of ETF strategy and research for SSGA’s Asia-Pacific ETF team. Arnold is based in Singapore and focuses on developing research to help institutional investors evaluate and develop ETF investment strategies.
Arnold reports to James MacNevin, who is the senior managing director, the head of intermediary business group and the chief operating officer of SSGA in Asia-Pacific.
The firm has also appointed Robin Tsui as a vice president and the ETF gold specialist for its Asia-Pacific SPDR ETF business. Tsui’s role is to increase institutional investors’ awareness of SPDR gold shares and to expand its marketshare through the development of research, education and product positioning collateral. Tsui is based in Hong Kong and reports to Arnold.
“With the addition of their research and product capabilities to our team, we continue to be well-positioned to provide a full suite of ETF portfolio solutions to our clients,” said MacNevin.
Asia registered the fastest ETF product growth globally over the past five years, but the product take up remains small when compared to the US and Europe.
According to FE Analytics, there are only 105 ETFs available for sale in Hong Kong and 354 ETFs available for sale in Singapore, out of 3298 funds from global ETFs.
Still, the ETF market in Hong Kong has been active this year. Amundi Asset Management recently debuted its ETF in Hong Kong and BMO Global Asset Management launched its second series of four ETFs in Hong Kong in February.
