STORIES YOU MAY HAVE MISSED THIS WEEK
People moves
Marc Van De Walle has officially joined Standard Chartered on Monday as global head of wealth management. Van De Walle was previously at Bank of Singapore, where he was global head of products and was concurrently head of wealth management for OCBC. Replacing Van De Walle at BOS is Lim Leong Guan, who was UBS Wealth Management’s head of wealth planning for Asia-Pacific and head of investment products and services for Singapore…
Muzinich & Co, a privately-owned investment firm specialising in public and private corporate credit, has appointed Andrew Tan as head of Asia-Pacific private debt in Singapore to lead the development of the firm’s Asia-Pacific platform. He is joined by Denis Rayel in Sydney, who will support and lead the development of the firm’s private debt capability in Australia and New Zealand. Tan was previously at HSBC. Muzinich opened in Singapore in 2017 and includes both distribution and investment professionals, conducting research and servicing clients across Asia-Pacific…
ESG
From 2021, Axa Investment Management will target listed companies in developed market economies where at least one-third of the board of directors is not gender diverse, according to a statement from the firm. This new 33% diversity target will enable Axa IM to hold all companies in which it invests to the same high standards of achieving greater diversity, as well as advancing the issue of gender diversity in the developed world. In addition, Axa IM will also be targeting listed companies in emerging markets from this year, including Japan, where the board of directors does not comprise of a single female director or 10% of the board for larger boards…
Refinitiv has launched Lipper Fund ESG Scores, according to a statement from the firm. The fund ESG scores measure ESG performance, commitment and effectiveness across 10 main themes, which include environmental product innovation, diversity and inclusion and human rights, based on publicly-reported data on constituents within the fund. The fund ESG scores are available on Refinitiv Workspace, Eikon or API Feed…
Business moves
HSBC Life China, HSBC’s life insurance joint venture in the mainland, has started offering a digital financial planning and insurance service this month, according to a statement from the firm. The service is delivered by newly recruited personal wealth management, who will provide a needs-based wealth planning experience and insurance service outside the bank’s branch network. The mobile personal wealth planners will initially cover new customers in Guangzhou and Shanghai. Separately, a fintech firm is also being established in the mainland to provide technology, digital and data services to support HSBC entities, starting with the new mobile financial planning business…
CLSA has developed an investment strategy offering high net worth individuals access to a diversified portfolio of global late-stage private companies operating in innovative and disruptive sectors, an asset class traditionally accessible to institutional investors only. The investment philosophy is centred on four global themes driving innovation, which include digital economy and experience, deep technology ecosystems, sustainability and wellness and smart healthcare. CLSA’s structured investments business developed and manages the investment strategy and has partnered with Gateway Private Markets for specialist direct secondary brokerage and end-to-end execution…
