FROM THE PRESS RELEASE DESK THIS WEEK…
People moves
Capital Group has appointed Alton Gwee to the newly created role of senior investment product specialist for Asia-Pacific. Based in Singapore, Gwee will be responsible for contributing to the overall business strategy of the firm’s fixed income business. He will report to Matthew Dresch, London-based senior manager for investment product services, and will be working closely with the investment specialists, marketing and sales teams in Asia. Before Capital Group, Gwee was a fixed income portfolio specialist at UBS Asset Management…
T Rowe Price has established a Tokyo-based multi-asset team, with the relocation of Richard Coghlan, global solutions portfolio manager, from the firm’s headquarters to Baltimore to Tokyo, and the appointment of Hajime Takigawa as a solution strategist. In his expanded Tokyo-based role, Coghlan will work with the firm’s Asia-Pacific-based team to develop income solutions for local markets in the region, while retaining his current responsibilities. Meanwhile, Takagawa was previously at Russell Investments, where he was a senior portfolio manager. The appointment follows a series of hires for the firm’s Apac-based multi-asset team, including the appointments of Thomas Poullaouec as Hong Kong-based head of multi-asset solutions for Asia-Pacific in 2017, Wenting Shen as Hong Kong-based multi-asset solution strategist in 2018, and Nathan Wang as Hong Kong-based multi-asset solution analyst, also in 2018…
Newton Investment Management, an affiliate of BNY Mellon Investment Management, has expanded its responsible investment team with the appointment of Andrew Parry as head of sustainable investment. Based in London, Parry will oversee the firm’s sustainable strategies and communicate the firm’s approach to responsible investment to its global base. Before Newton IM, Parry was at Hermes Investment Management, where he was the head of sustainable investing…
Aberdeen Standard Investments has bolstered its ESG investment capabilities in Asia-Pacific, with the appointments of Danielle Welsh-Rose as ESG investment director for Asia-Pacific and Petra Daroczi as an investment analyst for ESG fixed income. Based in Sydney, Welsh-Rose will be responsible for driving the firm’s ESG strategy in the region and partner with the investment teams across all asset classes to ensure full integration into investment decision-making. Meanwhile, Singapore-based Daroczi will provide Asian credit analysis from an ESG risk perspective and support the integration of ESG risk assessment in the regional fixed income portfolios. Before ASI, Welsh-Rose was at Victorian Funds Management Corporation, where she was head of ESG, while Daroczi was at Thomson Reuters, where she was the regional ESG ambassador in Singapore…
Schroders has expanded its sustainable investment capabilities with the appointment of Saida Eggerstedt as head of sustainable credit. Based in Frankfurt, Eggerstedt will report to Patrick Vogel, head of credit in Europe. Eggerstedt will also assume the role of sustainable credit fund manager and work in partnership with Schroders’ sustainability team, led by Jessica Ground, global head of Stewardship. Before Schroders, Eggerstedt was head of corporates at Deka Investments. She also managed credit portfolios, including sustainable strategies, at Standard Life Investments…
Business moves
Qatar National Bank (Group) has obtained a banking licence in Hong Kong from the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, according to a HKMA statement. QNB will provide a full range of banking products and services, which include trading securities and wealth management, according to a separate statement from the bank. “Hong Kong is the gateway for QNB Group’s clients to mainland China and wider Asia and is the first stop for globalising Chinese corporates. Moreover, the branch can further assist Chinese investments in the Middle East and Africa,” the firm said…
UBS Asset Management has launched its All China Equity Fund to Hong Kong’s retail investors. The All China Equity Fund has been available to professional investors since May last year. Managed by Bin Shi, head of China equities, the fund will invest in onshore China equities listed in Shanghai and Shenzhen via the Stock Connect, as well as offshore China equities, such as those listed on the Hong Kong Exchange. Shi also manages the China Opportunity Fund, which has assets of $7.3bn. In total, the firm’s China equities team manages around $14bn…
Kuala Lumpur-based Affin Hwang Asset Management has raised at least RM 100m ($23.9m) during the first three days of the launch of a fixed maturity product. The fund, the Affin Hwang Flexible Maturity Income Fund 14, is the fourteenth fund in the flexible maturity income fund series, which aims to provide regular income annually through investment in fixed income instruments. The firm hopes to raise at least RM 200m for the product by the close of the initial offer period. Since the start of the series offering in 2009, the firm has raised around RM 4bn across similar strategies…
Peak Capital in Hong Kong and SIG in Japan and Singapore have partnered together to launch Peak Capital SIG (PCS), which is a platform for fund managers looking to expand their client base in Asia. PCS will offer a regulatory compliant marketing solution and comprehensive access to an established professional investor network across the whole of the Asia-Pacific region. Contacts will include institutions and distributors across the region…
Investment trends
While 53% of Hong Kong investors indicated that they would consider sustainable factors when selecting investment products, only 13% have already invested in sustainable products, according to a survey conducted by Schroders. The trend is similar in the broader region, where 66% of Asian investors said they would consider sustainable factors, but only 17% of them have invested in sustainable products…
Investors globally have redeemed $6.51bn from hedge fund strategies last month, bringing year-to-date net outflows to $63.6bn, according to an Evestment report. Last month, there were net inflows across all strategies, but macro hedge funds had huge outflows of $6.18bn, followed by long/short equity ($5.33bn). Year-to-date, even driven strategies remain to be popular among investors, with net inflows of $13.3bn…
