STORIES YOU MAY HAVE MISSED THIS WEEK
People moves
T Rowe Price has appointed Raymond Chan as Hong Kong-based client director for intermediary business for Greater China. Chan will report to Priscilla Leung, head of intermediary business for Greater China, and will work closely with other intermediary distribution team members in Asia to service banks and insurance companies in the region. Previously, Chan was a client director for the intermediary business at Fidelity. Before that, he was at Janus Henderson covering Hong Kong and Singapore intermediaries…
Business moves
Pinebridge Investments has launched a retail share class of its existing Asia Pacific Investment Grade Bond Fund. The retail share class, which is denominated in Singapore dollars, shares the same portfolio with the existing institutional share class of the US dollar-denominated Asia Pacific Investment Grade Bond Fund, which invests in short- and medium-to-long-term debt securities issued by entities based within Asia-Pacific. The fund is co-managed by Arthur Lau, co-head of emerging markets fixed income and head of Asia fixed income, and Omar Slim, fixed income portfolio manager…
Singapore-based robo-advisory firm Smartly has decided to close. Founded in 2015 and acquired by Ho Chi Minh City-based Vina Capital last year, the robo-advisor said on its website that “competition in the digital investment advisory space has become intense and maintaining a high service standard on the platform has been challenging. Despite initially contemplating core platform improvements, strategic corporate considerations by our parent, Vina Capital Group, ultimately guided this decision”, it added…
CSOP Asset Management has appointed BNP Paribas Securities Services to provide fund administration services for its funds using Singapore’s new Variable Capital Company (VCC) structure. With assets of $6.3bn, CSOP AM is the largest Chinese asset manager to use Singapore’s new corporate fund structure. As part of the mandate, BNP Paribas Securities Services will provide custody solutions, fund administration as well as transfer agency services…
Covid-19
Standard Chartered said it has committed $1bn to finance companies that provide goods and services to help the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic. These companies include manufacturers and distributors in the pharmaceutical industry and healthcare providers, as well as non-medical companies that have volunteered to add this capability to their manufacturing output. Goods in scope include ventilators, face masks, protective equipment and sanitisers…
Citi in Singapore has launched measures to support its retail and institutional clients since the start of the coronavirus outbreak, such as interest and fee waivers, tenure extensions, alternative settlement arrangements, option to restructure borrowing and trade credit facilities, extension of liquidity and loan payment reduction programmes. The bank will also offer clients an option to convert their outstanding unsecured balances from their credit cards into a low-cost term loan to help those affected by the coronavirus and lessen their existing debt burden…
