This week…
| New deals |
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Fidelity International launched a bespoke $300m real estate investment mandate in Saudi Arabia, in partnership with NCB Capital. The sharia-compliant vehicle will target assets in Germany, France, Benelux and the UK. |
| Careers and education |
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Standard Chartered Private Bank announced the Private Banking Academy, a training programme for its global staff. Created in partnership with Fitch Learning and Insead, a business school, the program blends classroom and online training. Launching in May 2017, it will be mandatory for all front-line employees. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority together with Private Wealth Management Association launched a pilot apprenticeship programme for 20 full-time students. The programme involves two rounds of paid summer internships (six weeks in 2017 and eight weeks in 2018) at wealth management institutions. |
| People moves |
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Hong Kong-based Rayliant Global Advisors appointed Ken Chuah as managing director for portfolio management, trading and operations. Chuah joins the company on 10 April, from Northern Trust. Earlier, he worked at State Street Global Advisors and Rothschild AM in Australia. Shinichi Yamamoto has been appointed as president and CEO of Manulife Asset Management Japan, to replace retiring Yoshihide Nagata. Yamamoto has two decades of industry experience. He was most recently president and co-CEO of Pimco Japan. |
| Fees |
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First State Stewart Asia has changed the way it pays for third-party research. The cost will no longer be paid from client commissions. Instead the firm will pay the providers directly. The change will help the firm meet its regulatory requirements under MiFID II. |
| Fintech |
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CFA Institute, together with its affiliate organisations in Hong Kong and Beijing, hosted a fintech summit in Hong Kong on 31 March. Four hundred participants discussed fintech supervision, compliance, cyber security, regulatory technology, new business models and collaboration between finance and technology sectors. |
| A word from regulators |
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Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission announced appointments to seven of its 17 committees, effective 1 April. The committees welcomed 24 new members while 39 members were reappointed for another term. SFC reprimanded and fined Hong Kong-based Guoyuan Securities Brokerage HK$4.5 ($580,000) for breaches of anti-money laundering guidelines. The brokerage failed to enquire into and flag suspicious transaction patterns. It also failed to properly train and communicate relevant policies to its staff. |
