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In case you missed it (1 November 2019)

Pimco credit research hire; Eaton Vance appointment; Newton equity opportunities head; Sygnum's Singapore licence; Moody's China ESG acquisition; UBS survey; and more...

FROM THE PRESS RELEASE DESK THIS WEEK…

 

People moves

Pimco, a fixed income specialist, has poached Annisa Lee from Nomura as executive vice president and head of Asia Pacific credit research. Based in Hong Kong, Lee reports to Christian Stracke, global head of credit research based in Newport Beach, USA. She officially started her role on 28 October, and will lead a team of eight credit analysts across Tokyo, Hong Kong and Sydney in delivering research for the broader platform. She will partner closely with Pimco’s Asia portfolio management team, led by Stephen Chang to expand the firm’s credit strategy offerings across the region.

Eaton Vance Management International (Asia), a subsidiary of Eaton Vance Corp. has appointed Ryan Changwon Kim as business development director, Asia. Based in Singapore, Kim is responsible for identifying and developing relationships with private banks, fund of funds, institutional investors and other investors in Asia, ex-Japan, and primarily South Korea. Kim was most recently an executive director at Robeco Institutional Asset Management in Hong Kong, and has had stints at the Korean Investment Corporation and Mirae Asset Daewoo Securities.

BNY Mellon’s Newton Investment Management has hired Ilga Haubelt from Deka Investment as head of equity opportunities based in London. She will lead a 10-member equity team, focused on Newton’s Asian, global, US, emerging, UK and European equity funds.

Business moves

Sygnum, a digital asset technology group based in Singapore and Switzerland, said that it has successfully obtained a capital markets services (CMS) licence from the Monetary Authority of Singapore. The company recently received its banking and securities dealer licence from the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority and now, with the CMS licence, Sygnum can conduct asset management activities in Singapore, focussing mainly on digital asset investment strategies for accredited and institutional investors. Its first product is a fund-of-funds, launched on 1 November.

Moody’s Corporation will buy a minority stake in SynTao Green Finance (STGF), a provider of environmental, social and governance (ESG) data and analytics based in and serving China. STGF’s data covers publicly listed Chinese companies, bond issuers and macro ESG development trends. STGF is a signatory to the UN Principles for Responsible Investment as a service provider, a Climate Bonds Initiative Approved Verifier in China, and the Chinese green bond verifier.

Surveys

Asian investors experienced a rebound in economic sentiment in the third quarter, with 68% expressing optimism on their region’s economy versus 60% in the second quarter, according to UBS Global Wealth Management’s quarterly Investor Sentiment survey. Bullishness on domestic stocks also strengthened from 56% to 61% of respondents. Nevertheless, cash holdings rose two percentage points to 34%, the highest number in any region. Among business owners, 32% planned to hire, compared with 38% three months prior, while 50% expected a global recession to follow in the next six months. Trade tensions helped explain some of this caution, with the trade war remaining the top concern for Asian investors at 45% of respondents.

Initiatives

JP Morgan Private Banks will next year promote a wealth management network aimed at making the industry more female focused will be launched in Asia next year. The WealthiHer Network Asia in initiative follows the launch of WealthiHer UK in March, whose founding partners included Barclays, HSBC Private Bank and Julius Baer, as well as JP Morgan Private Bank.

Apac asset size

Source: Thinking Ahead Institute, Willis Towers Watson

Part of the Mark Allen Group.