From the press release desk this week…
People moves
Aberdeen Standard Investments has appointed Andrew Hendry as head of distribution for Asia-Pacific. He will be responsible for driving the distribution strategy across the institutional, private banking, wholesale and retail channels in the region and will report to Campbell Fleming, London based head of distribution, and Hugh Young, Singapore-based head of distribution. Before Aberdeen Standard, Hendry was managing director at Westoun Advisors, where he advised asset managers on strategic expansion, global distribution and capital raising. Before that, he was managing director at M&G Investments Asia…
Besides Hendry, Aberdeen Standard also appointed Omar Answar as Jakarta-based country head and head of distribution for Indonesia. He has also been appointed as president director of PT Aberdeen Asset Management, the firm’s Indonesia-based subsidiary. Answar will replace Sigit Wiryadi, who retired last month. He will report to Ian Mcdonald, the firm’s Singapore-based deputy head of Asia-Pacific. Before joining the firm, Answar was executive chairman at Nomura Securities Indonesia, where he oversaw investment banking and capital markets businesses…
Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing has appointed Laura Cha as the chairman of the board. This is the first time in its 18-year history that the bourse has appointed a female chairman. Besides chairman of the board, Cha was also appointed as chairman of several HKEX committees, namely the ESG committee, nomination committee, executive committee, risk committee, the risk management committee, listings appeals committee and listing nominating committee…
Products and investing
Pictet Asset Management has launched a Luxembourg-domiciled Asian corporate bond Ucits fund. The fund will invest in hard-currency Asian investment grade and high yield corporate bonds, and is benchmarked against the JP Morgan Asia Credit Diversified Index. It will be managed by a team based in London, Singapore and Hong Kong, led by Alain Defise, head of emerging market corporate bonds…
The private equity market in China registered its second best results on record, cementing its status as the largest market in the Asia-Pacific region, according to a Bain & Company report. After a recent decline, the country rebounded to a record $73bn in deal value in 2017, up from $63bn the year before. Internet and technology sectors were the most popular for investors, according to the report. However, it seems that investors’ appetite is slowing down. Deal multiples in the sector remained high, but have already dropped slightly from the record levels seen in 2016…
A survey conducted by Schroders reveals that investors globally have high return expectations. More than a third were looking for a return of 5%-9% per annum, over the next five years, while 31% expected 10%-19%. However, most forecasts suggest that future returns will be below these levels, according to the firm, citing several reasons. One is that inflation is expected to remain low, which means a smaller yield premium is demanded by bond investors to compensate for the erosion of buying power inflicted by inflation. Another reason is that low inflation implies low interest rates…
Regulation and enforcement
The Monetary Authority of Singapore has proposed guidelines to strengthen individual accountability of senior managers and to raise standards of conduct in financial institutions. The guidelines focus on three key areas: promoting individual accountability of senior managers, strengthening oversight of employees and embedding standards of proper conduct among all employees. The regulator is seeking feedback on the guidelines until 25 May…
Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission has reprimanded CN Capital Management and fined it HK$1m ($130,000) for failing to maintain an effective compliance function and satisfactory internal controls concerning employee account dealing. The regulator also reprimanded its responsible officers, George Chan and Stephen Ng and fined them HK$100,000 each for failing to comply with the employee account dealing requirements…
Philanthropy
The global philanthropy sector is growing fast, with 72% of foundations established in the past 25 years, according to a report conducted by Harvard Kennedy School’s Hauser Institute for Civil Society with funding from UBS. However, Asia still lags behind globally with only 5% of the 260,000 foundations identified by the report, in spite of the rapid growth of high net worth individuals’ wealth in the region. Around 60% are based in Europe and 35% are in North America…
