FROM THE PRESS RELEASE DESK LAST WEEK…
People moves
Deutsche Bank Wealth Management has made several senior strategic hires to its global South Asia (GSA) team. Achal Aroura last month joined as Dubai-based managing director and GSA group head, while Mayank Khemka was named as Mumbai-based head of discretionary portfolio management and chief investment officer for India. Aroura was previously a senior client advisor and group head for Middle East and Africa for non-resident Indian clients at Julius Baer, while Khemka was Credit Suisse’s head of investment management for India. In addition, Akshay Prasad, Deutsche Bank Wealth’s Singapore-based head of capital markets for emerging markets, has been appointed as head of investment management for GSA…
Janus Henderson has made two appointments to its Asia institutional team. Jessica Choong has been named as Singapore-based director for institutional sales for Southeast Asia this month, while Natalie Chan has been appointed as Hong Kong-based head of institutional marketing for Asia (ex-Japan). Choong was previously at Schroders, where she was product manager for Asia fixed income, while Chan was Invesco’s head of institutional marketing for Asia…
Product launches
Kuala Lumpur-based Affing Hwang Asset Management has launched Malaysia’s first leveraged and inverse (L&I) ETFs today. The firm simultaneously listed four ETFs on the local bourse –two leveraged and two inverse ETFs. The products are the TradePlus NYSE Fang+ Daily (2x) Leveraged Tracker, the NYSE Fang+ Daily (-1x) Inverse Tracker, the HSCEI Daily (2x) Leveraged Tracker and the HSCEI Daily (-1x) Inverse Tracker. The firm now has six ETFs …
MSCI inclusion
MSCI has completed the final phase of its partial inclusion of China A-shares in the MSCI Indices. The indices will include 472 China A-shares, comprising of 244 large-cap and 228 mid-cap securities. The weight of China A-shares in the MSCI ACWI will be 0.5% and 4% in the MSCI Emerging Markets Index. Any further inclusion of China A-shares in the indices would follow a public consultation and be reviewed against the progress made toward addressing the remaining market reforms highlighted by global institutional investors, which include access to hedging and derivative instruments and short settlement cycle for China A-shares…
ESG
MSCI has made its ESG ratings available to the public, in a move to help investors, companies and other stakeholders identify the most financially relevant ESG risks and opportunities. The ratings include at least 2,800 companies in the MSCI AC World Index and makes use of 1,000 data points across 37 key ESG issues that are reviewed weekly…
A majority of Australia and New Zealand institutions no longer accept the belief that ESG investing may sacrifice investor returns, according to a study co-launched by Franklin Templeton and consultancy firm NMG Consulting. Around 94% of Australia and New Zealand institutions believe that ESG investments will enhance returns, which compares to around 80% of the rest of Asia. Of the different ESG factors, corporate governance continues to be considered as the most important factor by 71% of institutions in Asia-Pacific, followed by the impact of climate change (67%), sustainability (56%) and corporate corruption (54%)…
