From the press release desk this week…
People moves
Morgan Stanley Investment Management has appointed Lee Yoon Pyo as Seoul-based managing director and head of Korea. In this newly created role, Lee will be responsible for overseeing and growing the firm’s asset management business in Korea. Before Morgan Stanley IM, Lee was previously at Korea-based Truston Asset Management, where he was senior executive vice president and co-CEO. Before that, he spent several years at The National Pension Service of Korea, where he held various senior leadership roles, including head of global private market investment division and head of investment strategy…
Aegon Asset Management has appointed Brunno Maradei as Hague-based global head of ESG, while Julius Huttunen joins the firm as Chicago-based responsible investment manager. Both will report to Roelie Van Wijk-Russchen, global head of responsible business and public affairs. Before Aegon AM, Maradei was previously at the European Investment Bank in Luxembourg, where he was a senior investment officer focused on climate-friendly impact investments in Africa. Huttunen was previously at Calvert Research & Management, where he was an ESG research analyst covering corporate issuers…
Business moves
Natixis Investment Managers has entered into a strategic partnership with Canada’s Fiera Capital, which manages around C$144.9bn ($107.6bn) in assets as of the end of March. The partnership will give Fiera Capital’s clients access to Natixis IM’s investment strategies. As part of the agreement, Natixis IM will acquire an 11% stake in Fiera Capital, and Natixis IM CEO Jean Raby will join the Canadian firm’s board of directors…
Manulife has unified its institutional, retail and retirement wealth and asset management businesses globally under a single, new brand: Manulife Investment Management (Manulife IM). These businesses formerly operated under multiple brands and as separate units in different markets. For example, the retail business will use the Manulife IM brand globally, replacing the Manulife Asset Management brand in Europe and Asia, and the Manulife Investments brand in Canada. However, the firm’s retail brand in the US, John Hancock Investments, will not be using the Manulife IM brand but will instead be renamed as John Hancock Investment Management. The firm’s institutional brands, Manulife AM and John Hancock Asset Management, will also be renamed to Manulife IM. In addition, Manulife changed its logo this week…
New logo
Old logo
Asia’s rich
Nearly half (46%) of high net worth individuals in Asia have cited fears about trade wars as their primary concern, followed by a regional slowdown in China (43%), according to a survey conducted by UBS Wealth Management. However, Asian investors still showed a risk of home bias, with 59% optimistic on the global economy versus 66% of their region amid strong performance in China in particular. When deploying cash into equities, the firm recommends investors to diversify beyond China into other regional markets with catch-up potential…
Fintech
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority has granted virtual banking licences to Ant SME Services, Infinium Limited, Insight HK and Ping An OneConnect Company. Ant SME is a unit of Ant Financial Services, Insight Fintech is a joint venture between Xiaomi and AMTD, Infinium is a joint venture between Tencent, ICBC and Hong Kong Exchange, while PingAn OneConnect is part of insurance giant PingAn. In total, there are now eight entities that now hold a virtual banking licence in Hong Kong…
Fintech firm Value3 Advisory, which provides B2B risk management and robo-advisory solutions, has become one of the three winning firms of the Investment Management Association of Singapore’s (IMAS) Digital Accelerator Programme. The other two winners are Capital Preference, which provide client profiling services, and Blue Fire AI, which provides artificial intelligence-powered revenue generating signals for the capital markets industry…
