From the press release desk this week…
People moves
JP Morgan Asset Management has appointed Dan Watkins as its new Asia-Pacific CEO, according to a statement from the firm. He will replace Michael Falcon, who will leave the firm to join Prudential in January as its new chairman and CEO of its North American business, according to a Prudential statement. JP Morgan AM’s Watkins, who will relocate from London to Hong Kong in late-2018, will report to George Gatch, the firm’s CEO for global funds and global institutional business. Watkins has been with the firm for at least 20 years and was most recently global head of client services as well as deputy CEO for Europe. His successor will be named in due course…
Loomis Sayles, an affiliate of Natixis Investment Managers, has promoted Aziz Hamzaogullari as chief investment officer for the growth equity strategies (GES) team, which includes the Loomis Sayles Large Cap Growth, All Cap Growth and Global Growth portfolios. Hamzaogullari has been the portfolio manager and founder of the team’s investment philosophy and process of the GES portfolios. He has helped drive the GES platform assets to at least $52bn from $2bn since he joined the firm eight years ago…
Northern Trust Asset Management has appointed Scott Bennett in the newly created role of head of quantitative research and client solutions for Australia and New Zealand. Based in Melbourne, Bennett will report to Bert Rebelo, head of Australia and New Zealand. Before Northern Trust AM, Bennett was a director of equity strategy and research at Russell Investments, where he was responsible for managing quantitative equity strategies, including single and multi-factor strategies, ESG and low carbon solutions…
Business and product news
Eastspring Investments has finalised the acquisition of 65% of Bangkok-based TMB Asset Management from TMB Bank Public Company. The firm first announced in July that it had the option to increase ownership to 100% and has entered into a distribution partnership with TMB. The partnership enables TMB customers to access and invest in Eastspring products. TMB AM, which has £10bn ($13bn) in assets, is Thailand’s fifth largest asset manager…
Union Bancaire Privée (UBP) has launched a positive impact equity strategy. The portfolio will invest in 25-35 stocks that meet measurable impact criteria and will be managed by London-based equity managers Victoria Legett, who is also head of responsible investment for asset management, and Rupert Welchman. The firm developed its measurement framework in collaboration with the Cambridge Institute for Sustainable Leadership (CISL)…
DWS, the new brand name of Deutsche Asset Management, has launched its DWS Invest Asian Bonds USD Fixed Income Fund in Hong Kong. The fund is managed through a flexible investment approach that mitigates index biases and supports a focus on capital preservation and growth. Henry Wong, head of Asia fixed income at DWS, said that the launch of the fund comes at a time where there is rapidly growing demand for Asia-focused bond funds in Asia…
Around €116bn ($132.9bn) of the €524bn assets managed by Allianz Global Investors have integrated ESG factors after 18 months of launching the firm’s integrated ESG programme. The firm also manages €6bn in impact investments and €22bn in SRI (socially responsible investing) assets…
Enforcement
Hong Kong’s Securities and Exchange Commission has introduced new features on its website to make it easier for the public to report suspected corporate fraud and market misconducted. The public can now fill in an online form to report information via a new “reporting corporate fraud and market misconduct” page. In addition, the SFC also launched a “have you seen these people” section on its website, which provides more details about key suspects the SFC is trying to locate, as well as an online form which can be used to submit information about the whereabouts of these individuals. “If you have information of interest to the SFC, we encourage you to report it,” Thomas Atkinson, SFC’s executive director of enforcement, said in a statement…
Source: SFC website
