This week…
| Fintech |
| The Monetary Authority of Singapore will be organising the second Singapore fintech festival, which is to be held from 13-17 November. The event is organised in partnership with The Association of Banks in Singapore and in collaboration with SingEx Holdings. The week-long festival will build on the success of the inaugural festival last November, which drew more than 13,000 participants from across 60 countries… |
| People moves |
| First State Investments has appointed two executives for its North Asia distribution team. Gladys Chan has joined the firm as a director for North Asia private bank distribution, while Bonnie Chun joined as an associate director for intermediary business. Chan was previously from Deutsche Asset Management, where she was a vice president and head of retail for Hong Kong for the firm’s global client group, while Chun was a senior sales manager at Invesco Asset Management…
HSBC’s commercial bank has appointed Sheldon Wong as the new head of its middle market financial sponsors (MMFS) team in Asia-Pacific. He will be responsible for managing and hiring specialist bankers in leveraged and acquisition finance to support mid-size financial sponsors that raise local, regional or global private equity funds ranging from $250m to $3bn, and that seek to acquire companies with enterprise values from $50m to $500m… |
| Enforcement |
| Deng Lixin, a fund manager and investment director at China Post & Capital Fund, the Mainland fund joint-venture firm of Japan’s Sumitomo Mitsui Banking, China Post Group and Capital Securities, was arrested by the China Securities Regulatory Commission a few days ago for allegedly using insider information to make personal gains. The responsibilities of the four funds that Deng helps managing has been transferred to other managers and did not suffer large amount of redemptions, according to the firm. |
| Cyber security |
| Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission was firm on its conviction on cyber security protection as did not fail to warn intermediaries about the ransomware WannaCry that spread over the Internet early this week. It sent a circular to all licensed corporations reminding them to be on alert for cyber security threats and implement appropriate measures to address the risks… |
| Brexit effect |
| A research among financial industry professionals globally reveals that they expect to see a significant increase in financial services companies either re-domiciling to other European Union financial services centres or opening new subsidiaries in the EU, according to a study commissioned by asset manager Managing Partners Group and public relations firm Citigate Dewe Rogerson. The research shows that 83% of 41 respondents coming from institutional investment, hedge funds and private equity firms believe the increase will be fuelled mainly by Brexit, although 54% see it resulting from Chinese financial services firms wishing to expand into Europe… |
| Asset services |
| BNP Paribas Securities Services has been awarded a global custodian mandate by the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) that is based in Beijing. BNP Paribas is expected to have global custody of up to $20bn of AIIB assets and will be providing a suite of custody services…
Law firm Simmons & Simmons launched its dedicated online resource for start-up hedge fund managers in Hong Kong. The online resource, Simmons & Simmons LaunchPlus, offers a comprehensive support service for emerging managers in Hong Kong to assist in the launch and operation of a new hedge fund management business… |
