FROM THE PRESS RELEASE DESK THIS WEEK…
People moves
Deutsche Bank Wealth Management has appointed Rajesh Mahadevan as head of global products and solutions (GPS) for emerging markets. Based in Singapore, Mahadevan will assume the role in January and will be responsible for running the advisory and wealth management businesses in emerging markets, which include Asia-Pacific, the Middle East and Africa. Currently, he is the firm’s Dubai-based global south Asia (GSA) head for the Middle East. Mahadevan will be supported in building the global mandated advisory business by Wai Mei Tan and Marco Busetto, who take on joint leadership of global advisory and investment solutions mandate…
Wine investment management firm Cult Wines has appointed Kazuaki Takabatake as commercial and strategy director for Asia-Pacific. Based in Singapore, Takabatake will be responsible for developing and implement new commercial opportunities in the region. Before Cult Wines, Takabatake was managing director at Singapore-based foreign currency trading firm Oanda Asia-Pacific. Tabatake’s hire follows a series of appointments this year, including Eddie Kir as Hong Kong-based head of business development for North Asia and Julie Delaporte as Singapore-based Southeast Asia business development manager…
Wealth Management
Client assets of Ping An’s online wealth management dropped 5% to RMB 350.8bn ($49.6bn) during the first nine months this year, due to restrictions on sales of online lending products. However, the group’s overall net profit rose 63.2% year-on-year to RMB 129.5bn, driven by different parts of the business, including insurance and retail banking…
Business moves
Nikko Asset Management is expected to launch a global technology ETF in Singapore. This week, Singapore Exchange licenced the iEdge-FactSet Global Internet Index to Nikko AM, which will adopt the index to the ETF. The index aims to track the performance of developed market securities in the internet and digital technologies segments. The move comes after Nikko AM listed the global internet ETF in Hong Kong. Separately, BNP Paribas Securities Services announced that it was awarded the mandate to be the custodian and administrator for the Hong Kong-listed ETF…
BNP Paribas and Allfunds have entered a strategic partnership agreement, in which BNP Paribas Securities Services and BNP Paribas Asset Management together will have a 22.5% stake in Allfunds, subject to regulatory approvals. Under the agreement, BNP Paribas Securities Services intends to use Allfunds as preferred access to the fund market, exploring together opportunities to enhance services to fund providers and financial institutions. BNP Paribas will also entrust Allfunds with the management of distribution contracts of third-party investment funds for several BNP Paribas entities in its retail, wealth management, insurance and asset management businesses. This should expand Allfunds’ business proposition to new territories, including France and Germany…
Hedge funds
The global hedge fund industry has had net redemptions of $76.9bn this year, ending September, bringing down total AUM to $3.3bn, according to an Evestment report. Long/short equity strategies had the highest net outflows ($36.4bn), followed by macro strategies ($20.4bn). On the other hand, event-driven strategies continue to attract money, with net inflows of $13.3bn…
