From the press release desk this week…
Business moves
Eastspring Investments has officially opened its Shanghai-based wholly foreign owned enterprise (WFOE) in China. The new Shanghai office will be a full-service investment and distribution office, with the aim of serving the investment needs of qualified high net worth individuals and institutional investors in China, offering domestic investors the opportunity to invest in Eastspring’s global offshore funds and also providing global investors with the opportunity to invest directly in China via the firm’s onshore investment team. The opening of its WFOE follows after the firm received its private fund management licence in October. The WFOE now has 11 people in Shanghai, including five investment professionals, and is looking to have 20 staff by the end of 2019. The WFOE also complements the firm’s existing joint venture partnership, CITIC-Prudential Fund Management Company, which focuses on the retail market…
UBS has secured a majority stake in a China securities joint venture. The bank received approval from the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) for UBS AG to increase its shareholding in its securities joint venture in China, UBS Securities, from 24.99% to 51%. UBS is acquiring from China Guodian Capital Holdings and COFCO their 12.01% and 14% stakes in UBS Securities respectively. Upon completing the transaction, UBS will become the first foreign bank to increase its stake to gain majority control of a securities joint venture in China…
Ping An of China Asset Management has listed today two ETF products in Hong Kong. They are the Nasdaq 5HANDL ETF, which tracks a diversified multi-asset portfolio of ETFs, and the Nasdaq AI and Robotics ETF, which tracks the performance of companies engaged in AI and robotics segments of various sectors. The new products just follow the listing of two other ETFs managed by the firm last week, which are factor-based products…
Alternatives
Global alternative investment firm Värde Partners has announced the final close of the Värde Asia Credit Fund, with around $400m of committed capital from a diverse base of investors, including public and private pensions, endowments, foundations and family offices in North America, Europe and Asia. The fund, which exceeded its $250m target and closed after six months, is the firm’s first Asia-dedicated vehicle. The fund has the flexibility to invest across corporate credit, special situations lending and stressed and distressed real estate investments. The firm has invested at least $4bn across 15 countries in Asia-Pacific and has 40 employees in offices in Hong Kong, Mumbai, Singapore, Sydney and Tokyo…
Enforcement and regulation
Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) has fined a family office set up by George Soros for naked short selling. The Hong Kong-based entity, SFM HK Management, has been reprimanded and fined HK$1.5m ($190,000) for failures relating to the short selling of Great Wall Motor Company shares in 2015 on behalf of a fund it managed. “The SFC considers that SFM not only failed to act with due skill, care and diligence in dealing in the bonus shares, but also failed to diligently supervise its staff members and implement adequate and effective systems and controls to ensure compliance with short selling requirements,” the regulator said…
The SFC has released consultation conclusions on proposed amendments to the Code on Unit Trusts and Mutual Funds. The regulator will implement the proposals set out in the consultation paper, which include modifications to the calculation method for funds’ derivatives investments and the introduction of new fund types such as active ETFs…
The CSRC and the SFC have entered into a memorandum of understanding (MoU) regarding the cooperation and exchange of information in connection with the supervision and oversight of regulated entities of the CSRC or the SFC that operate on a cross-boundary basis in Hong Kong and the mainland. The MoU facilitates the CSRC and the SFC to cooperate with each other in the interest of fulfilling their respective mandates, particularly in the areas of investor protection, promoting the integrity and financial prudence of cross-boundary regulated entities, fostering fairness of markets, reducing systemic risk and maintaining financial stability…
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has launched a new S$30m ($21.9m) cybersecurity capabilities grant to strengthen the cyber resilience of the financial sector in Singapore and help financial institutions develop local talent in cybersecurity. The grant will support the development of advanced cybersecurity functions of Singapore-based financial instituitons. These advanced functions include security operations, cyber threat surveillance, computer forensics, malware research and analysis and cyber threat hunting. The grant will co-fund up to 50% of qualifying expenses, capped at S$3m, for financial instituions to establish their global or regional cybersecurity centres in Singapore and financial institutions with key global or regional cybersecurity functions and operations in Singapore to expand and deepend their cybersecurity capabilities locally…
