From the press release desk this week…
International Women’s Day
Around 97% of businesses in China employ at least one woman in senior management, higher than the global average of 87%, according to a Grant Thornton report. It noted that Asia-Pacific saw the greatest improvement in the proportion of businesses with at least one female senior leader, rising 14 percentage points to 85% this year. The proportion of senior business roles held by women in the region also increased to 28% from 23% last year. The top three Asian countries with the highest proportion of women in the high-level corporate positions are New Zealand (44%), Australia (43%) and the Philippines (35%), whereas Japan (15%), Thailand (19%) and Malaysia (23%) are at the bottom of the ranking…
People moves
Natixis has appointed Charles Picard as head of private bank and family office coverage for Asia-Pacific for corporate and investment banking (CIB). In this newly-created role, the firm will lead the development of Natixis’ business relationships with private banks and family offices in the region. He maintains his existing role as Singapore-based executive director for strategic equity transactions for CIB, overseeing origination in Southeast Asia. Picard joined the firm in 2017, and before that, was with BNP Paribas for 17 years…
The Monetary Authority of Singapore has announced new senior management appointments and changes to its organisational structure. The senior management appointments are part of an ongoing process to renew MAS’ leadership bench, while the organisational changes will help strengthen synergies across key functions. In addition, the regulator will form a new technology group, which will comprise a data analytics group, IT department, as well as a technology and cyber risk supervision department. To view all management changes, click here.
Northern Trust has appointed Lily Kwok as head of client services for its asset servicing business in Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan. She will report to Michael Wu, country executive for the Greater China region. Before Northern Trust, Kwok was director of business relationship management at Fin Ex Asia Investment. Before that, she was with BNP Paribas Securities Services as head of market and financing services business development and client solutions in Hong Kong…
Company developments
BNP Paribas AM in Indonesia (PT BNP Paribas Investment Partners) and Citibank have launched a socially responsible index fund, the BNP Paribas IDX30 Filantropi Fund. It is the second product that BNP Paribas IP launched last month in Indonesia exclusively through Citibank. A percentage of the assets raised from the fund will be disbursed for social causes through Citi’s PEKA (Pduli dan Berkarya) programme, which focuses on education and financial literacy, youth empowerment and micro-entrepreneurship.
Columbia Threadneedle Investments has launched internally a responsible investing (RI) ratings cloud-based system tool for the firm’s investment professionals. The system combines an assessment of a company’s financial stewardship with a view on how well it manages ESG risks…
CSOP Asset Management said it had huge inflows into its China-focused ETFs right after MSCI announced the expansion of the weighting of China A-Shares into its indices. The CSOP China A50 ETF had net inflows of around HK$453.8m ($57.7m) during the first two days this week after the MSCI announcement, according to CSOP. Separately, as of Wednesday, its China ChiNext ETF had inflows of around $141.7m in the last ten days…
After nearly 60 years of administering paper-based testing for the CFA programme, the CFA Institute will transition its level 1 exam to computer-based testing starting in 2021. The digitisation of its exam will enable the institute to offer a wider selection of test venues, more flexible scheduling and expedited exam results delivery…
Morningstar awards
Morningstar has announced the winning funds and fund houses for its 2019 Hong Kong Fund Awards. They are:
Fund category awards:
- Best Asia bond fund – PineBridge Asian Bond Fund – Provident Fund Units
- Best Asia-Pacific equity fund – First State Asian Equity Plus Fund – Class I USD Acc (Morningstar Analyst rating of Gold)
- Best global equity fund – AB Low Volatility Equity Portfolio Class AD USD
- Best Greater China equity fund – Schroder ISF Greater China A1 Acc USD (Morningstar Analyst rating of Silver)
- Best Hong Kong equity fund – First State Hong Kong Growth Fund – Class I USD Acc (Morningstar Analyst rating of Gold)
Fund house awards:
- Best equity fund house – T Rowe Price
- Best fixed income fund house – Capital Group
Mandatory Provident Fund Scheme awards:
- Best MPF scheme – HSBC Mandatory Provident Fund – ValueChoice
