China Asset Management’s Select Fixed Income Allocation Fund received a green light this month from the SFC to be launched to retail investors, while E Fund’s Growth Bond Fund received regulatory approval last month.
HSBC Global AM received approval for three fixed income funds last month: the Global Asset-Backed Bond Fund, the Global Corporate Bond Fund and the Global Government Bond Fund.
In May, the Global Asset-Backed Bond Fund was launched in Singapore to retail and accredited investors, according to FE data.
The firm also received approval to launch a Hong Kong-domiciled mixed-asset fund, which is the Asia Multi-Asset Income Fund.
Last month, Jupiter Asset Management’s Global Emerging Markets Short Duration Bond Fund received approval from the SFC. The fund has been available to Singapore’s accredited investors since September last year, FE data shows.
Year-to-date, there have been around 50 mutual fund products that the SFC has approved for launch to Hong Kong investors, according to the regulator’s records. Of the 50 products, 20 are fixed income, while the remainder are a mix of equity and mixed-asset funds.
The fixed income fund launches comes at a time when the asset class has fallen out of favour compared to equity funds. Year-to-date ending in May, net new flows into bond funds in Asia-Pacific (including Japan) was $15.6bn, which compares to the $45.2bn gathered in equity funds, according to a Cerulli report.
In Hong Kong, five of the top 10 selling mutual funds during the second quarter this year are equity funds, particularly China- and Hong Kong-focused funds, according to data from Broadridge Financial. There was only one fixed income fund on the list, which is Fidelity’s Global Bond Fund.
