The New York-based banking group said it now has the ability to offer an SMA platform in Asia’s two largest private banking and wealth management hubs, Singapore and Hong Kong.
BNY Mellon said it plans to launch its new SMA platform in January, and said it would be the first platform of its kind in Asia.
It is designed to enable wealth managers to offer those of their clients with $1m (£611,300, €731,000) or less to invest to have multi-manager and multi-currency portfolios.
The idea of the platform is to enable individual investors to be able to access investment strategies that global and Asian asset managers typically reserve for institutional investors, BNY Mellon said.
The company said its new platform may also be used by private banks and other financial institutions with high net worth clients for their discretionary portfolio management services.
The investment manager said it had also appointed Chris Faddy as head of distribution of managed investments.
Faddy will be responsible for expanding the business initially in the main financial hubs of Singapore and Hong Kong. He will also be responsible for identifying new markets, overseeing the wholesale team build out and the separately managed accounts marketing and educational initiatives.
Faddy joins from Credit Suisse Asset Management in Singapore, where he served as head of distribution for Asia ex-Japan. He has also led the distribution business in Asia-Pacific for Barclays Capital Fund Solutions.
BNY Mellon received the approval from the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission in June, while the Monetary Authority of Singapore granted it a capital markets services licence in November.
In September, the company appointed Credit Suisse’s Alex Buerge as head of investments and managing director for its new separately managed accounts business in Hong Kong.
At the end of September BNY Mellon Investment Management had assets under management of $1.5trn, encompassing its affiliated investment management firms, wealth management services and global distribution companies.
