FROM THE PRESS RELEASE DESK THIS WEEK…
People moves
Natixis Investment Managers has appointed Kylie Chan as senior director and head of wholesale and retail sales for Hong Kong. Chan, who is based in the SAR, will report to Madeline Ho, Singapore-based executive managing director and head of wholesale fund distribution for Asia-Pacific. Before Natixis IM, Chan was the head of sales for North Asia at Merian Global Investors. Before that, she held various roles at BNP Paribas Asset Management, including head of distribution for Hong Kong and China…
East Capital has appointed Anders Borg as an advisor. He will provide advisory services to the firm’s investment teams. He will also join East Capital’s advisory committee, where he will take part in the work of analysing the global economic outlook, with a focus on macro-economic, political and social trends. Borg was previously Sweden’s Minister of Finance from 2006-2014. During his time as minister, he was president of the Ecofin Council and served in the governing institutions of the IMF and the World Bank. Currently, he is serving on the board of directors in Nordic Entertainment Group and Stena International. He is also a senior advisor to companies such as IP-soft, Kinnevik and MTG…
New York-headquartered Jefferies, which provides investment banking, advisory, sales and trading, research and asset and wealth management services to clients, has appointed Christopher Wood as global head of equity strategy. Before Jefferies, Wood was Asia chief strategist at CLSA. Separately, Jefferies will also be launching the first edition of Wood’s weekly called “Greed & Fear”…
Fixed income flows
Global institutions and private banks are expected to invest more in Asian fixed income markets, according to a study by SSGA, in partnership with Greenwich Associates. Around 41% of 180 participants said they will increase their Asia bond allocation, while 54% said they will maintain it in the next 12 months. According to the study, around three-quarters of surveyed investors said yield is the key reason for increasing exposure to Asian fixed income next year…
Index inclusion
Starting next month, the MSCI Saudi Arabia Index will be included in the MSCI Emerging Markets Index. In addition, the MSCI Argentina Index will also be reclassified to emerging markets status from frontier markets. MSCI Kuwait Index will also be included in the 2019 annual market classification review for a potential reclassification to emerging markets status…
Market classification
Regulation
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) has warned the public about several fraudulent websites pretending to be banks, including Credit Suisse, DBS Bank, Bank of China, Bank of Singapore and HSBC. This month alone, HKMA issued eight warnings to public. In total, the HKMA has issued 44 notices about fake websites to the public this year…
