From the press release desk this week…
People moves
Morgan Stanley Investment Management has expanded its global multi-asset capabilities in Singapore. Andrew Harmstone, managing director and senior portfolio manager on the global multi-asset team and head of the Global Balanced Risk Control (“GBaR”) strategy, has relocated to Singapore from London to oversee the expansion of the GBaR team in the Lion City. GBaR is part of the firm’s broader global multi-asset capability…
BNP Paribas Asset Management has appointed Paul Sandhu as head of multi-asset quant solutions and client advisory for Asia-Pacific. In this newly-created role, Sandhu will be responsible for developing bespoke investment products for institutional and wholesale distributor clients in the region. He will report to Anton Wouters, head of solutions and client advisory. Before BNPP AM, Sandhu was at Conning, where he was managing director and head of investment solutions…
Schroders has appointed Georg Wunderlin to the newly-created role of global head of private assets. Wunderlin will be responsible for developing the firm’s private asset growth strategy. He will report to Peter Harrison, group CEO, and join the group management committee. Before Schroders, Wunderlin was the CEO of HQ Capital, an alternatives asset manager…
Business moves
Amundi has acquired Mirae Asset’s business in Taiwan this month. The acquisition, which was first announced in November, enables Amundi to have the status of a Securities Investment Trust Enterprise (SITE). With a SITE licence, Amundi will be able to offer onshore funds in Taiwan, in addition to the firm’s existing CISE entity, which offers offshore funds to Taiwanese investors. Mirae Asset in Taiwan has also been renamed to Amundi SITE. The firm expects that Amundi SICE will integrate with Amundi SITE in the first half of 2019, subject to regulatory approval…
Global asset managers have become conservative in their predictions for AUM growth, which is at around 21% by 2025, according to a joint survey conducted by Bloomberg Intelligence and Simmons & Simmons. This demonstrates an expectation for strong, not stellar, growth that is in contrast to some more aggressive forecasts. For example, UK is expected to experience 22% AUM growth – close to the APAC growth rate which is the highest globally, despite of concerns over the impact of Brexit on British financial services…
Pension funds
The average asset allocation of the seven largest pension markets (Australia, Canada, Japan, the Netherlands, Switzerland, the UK and the US) to alternatives has increased by 19 percentage points over the past 20 years, according to a Willis Towers Watson report. On the flipside, equity allocations have decreased by 20 percentage points. The average asset allocation for these markets is 40% equities, 31% bonds, 26% others and 3% cash…
Regulation and enforcement
The Court of First Instance has dismissed a judicial review application brought by an SFC-licensed, unnamed Hong Kong-based asset management firm and a majority shareholder of the firm, against the Securities and Futures Commission in connection with an investigation into suspected market manipulation in the shares of a Japan-listed company. During the investigation by the SFC and Japanese regulators, the SFC used its statutory powers to compel the applicants to provide information and materials under the Securities and Futures Ordinance. The materials were then provided to and used by the Japanese regulators in proceedings. The issue raised by the judicial review was whether the materials were unlawfully obtained by the SFC. The court found that they were lawfully obtained…
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority has alerted the public to a fraudulent website that claims to be Bank of China (Hong Kong). The fraudulent website intends to steal customers’ personal data, such as internet banking number, username, internet banking login password and the one-time password sent to a customer’s mobile phone, the bank warned on its website. Earlier, China CITIC Bank International and Bank of Singapore also warned the public of similar fraudulent websites that intend to steal personal information…
Source: Bank of China (Hong Kong)
