STORIES YOU MAY HAVE MISSED THIS WEEK
People moves
Ashley Alder has been re-appointed as the SFC’s CEO for another three-year term, effective from 1 October, according to a statement from the regulator. Alder originally planned to step down when his current term ends, Tim Lui, SFC’s chairman, noted in the statement. However, Alder reconsidered and decided to stay with the regulator. “After a careful re-assessment of the circumstances now facing Hong Kong and global economies and financial markets, and having discussed the situation with the government, I have accepted an invitation to remain at the helm of the SFC at a time when regulatory clarity is more important than ever to ensure that the financial system functions reliably and with integrity throughout a period of exceptional stress,” Alder said…
Credit Suisse has appointed Puneet Matta as head of wealth management for India, as reported by FSA’s sister publication, International Adviser. Before Credit Suisse, Matta was at Union Bancaire Privee, where he held several leadership roles in the non-resident Indian (NRI) and Indian sub-continent client segments. Currently residing in Singapore, Matta will relocate to Mumbai to take up his new role…
T Rowe Price has appointed Darren Hall as its new head of distribution for Australia and New Zealand, according to a statement from the firm. Hall will replace Murray Brewer, who will retire at the end of 2020 after 14 years with T Rowe. Hall, who is currently the firm’s Sydney-based head of intermediary for Australia, will report to Nick Trueman, Singapore-based head of distribution for Asia-Pacific. Hall has at least 20 years of experience, 13 of which have been with T Rowe Price…
ESG
Morgan Stanley Investment Management’s Global Sustain strategy has attracted investor assets of at least $1bn, according to a statement from the firm. Launched in 2018, the strategy aims to offer investors a carbon-light portfolio and does not invest in businesses that are involved in tobacco, alcohol and fossil fuels. The firm claims that the portfolio’s carbon footprint is 95% lighter than the MSCI World Index, per $1m invested. Since inception, the strategy has also delivered an annualised net return of 6.27% compared with the performance of the MSCI World Index (-4.18%), according to the firm…
MSCI has made public its ESG fund ratings service, which will include 36,000 mutual funds and ETFs, according to a statement from the firm. The move follows the release of the MSCI ESG ratings of 2,800 issuers in November. The MSCI ESG fund rating tool provides the ESG fund rating of a mutual fund or ETF, its peer and global rank, the ESG rating distribution of the fund’s holdings and other ESG metrics, including board independence and diversity, green versus brown revenue, board independence and social screens such as tobacco…
Enforcement
Hong Kong’s SFC has reprimanded and fined brokerage firm Southwest Securities HK$5m ($644,774.50) for failures in complying with anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing (AML/CFT) regulatory requirements in 2016, according to a statement from the regulator. The SFC’s investigation revealed that in 2016, Southwest failed to identify 89% of the third-party deposits totaling HK$110.1m for its clients due to a lack of systems and procedures to review the source of funds deposited into sub-accounts that the securities firm maintained with a bank. Southwest’s staff also did not have a clear understanding of their respective roles and responsibilities in the monitoring and identification of suspicious transactions…
