The Fidelity Advantage Portfolio Fund – World Equity Index Fund and World Government Bond Index Fund were approved for sale to retail investors in Hong Kong on 8 August, according to the Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission’s website.
The funds have been authorised but are not yet selling.
Once the two new products begin selling, Fidelity will have 16 SFC-registered funds for sale in Hong Kong in the “Fidelity Advantage Portfolio” series, according to FE Analytics.
FSA contacted Fidelity, but the firm was unable to provide the expected launch date, or details on the investment strategy and indices that they will be tracking.
New fund launches in Hong Kong in 2019 have been scarce, likely due to the ongoing protests and downward pressure on the local economy, which is now estimated to grow at 0 – 1% this year.
For calendar year 2018, Hong Kong had 71 new funds debut. Year-to-date 2019, only 17 have been launched, according to FE data.
Moreover, since July 1, only two funds have launched in the SAR, the Mirae Asset Horizons China Cloud Computing ETF and the Hang Seng Asian Bond Fixed Maturity 2022.
The SFC website shows three additional funds authorised in July with offering documents provided, but it is unclear whether these funds are actually selling. Two are from Matthews Asia — an Asia ex Japan dividend product and a Japan fund — and the other is the Legg Mason Brandywine Global Opportunistic Fixed Income Fund.
On 25 July, Blackrock’s China US Dollar Bond Fund was approved for sale to retail investors in Hong Kong.
However, the fund is not yet live and perhaps the firm is waiting for investor sentiment to improve along with the relationship between the government and the protestors.
By comparison, since 1 July in Singapore, 12 funds have launched and are now for sale, according to FE data. Five of the products are ESG-focused.
