One of the funds will cover multi-asset income, with the option of having a renminbi share class.
Although Baring has long established Dublin UCITS funds registered in Hong Kong, the new launches are tied in with the government’s initiative to develop Hong Kong as a major fund domicile in its own right, said Gerry Ng, Baring Asset Management’s chief executive for Asia ex-Japan, in an interview with sister publication International Adviser.
The multi-asset income product will satisfy the “hunger for yield” in the market and “build on our strength” in the multi-asset space, he said, with more details to be revealed next year, along with the remits of the other two as yet undisclosed funds.
Based in Baring’s Hong Kong office, Ng oversees a team of 60 people, including 25 investment professionals among whom the fund managers for the new launches will be drawn.
This planned funds launch also links in with Baring Asset Management getting awarded a RQFII licence, allowing it direct access to Chinese mainland renminbi-denominated equity and fixed income securities earlier this month.
The mutual recognition scheme between China and Hong Kong is a further development still in the pipeline (with Taiwan expected to be included), giving asset managers’ the future opportunity to reach mainland Chinese investors without having to set up a joint venture there.
Ng said this scheme agreement is still at a “high level ideas” stage with details, such as what types of funds will be allowed, and much remains to be worked out.
