In case you missed it, this week saw more announcements from fund managers launching MPF funds. Blackrock is not alone…
Not surprisingly, there was a report showing that Hong Kong’s regulator has increased enforcement activity. Another not so surprising news: more fintech partnerships with Singapore…
Below is a rundown of some of the developments that happened in Asia’s asset management industry:
| MPF and China… |
|
Schroders and Vanguard will launch funds under MPF’s default investment strategy (DIS). Schroders will launch two advance beta funds, the MPF Core 60/60 and the MPF Core 20/80, while Vanguard will roll out its Moderate Growth Fund and Income Fund. The moves follow Blackrock’s announcement last week that it will launch two funds under the DIS scheme… China’s mutual fund assets under management grew 8.6% in 2016 to hit RMB 9trn ($1.28trn), according to a Cerulli Associates report. Net new flows amounted to RMB 566.2bn for the year, supported mainly by net inflows of RMB 686.7bn to bond funds. According to the report, the growth in the overall AUM could have been buoyed by outsourcing from banks’ wealth management products, which surpassed RMB 26trn as of end-June last year… |
| Enforcement, enforcement, enforcement… |
|
Hong Kong’s SFC has substantially increased its enforcement activity against individuals, according to a study by law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer. The regulator issued 55% more disciplinary and criminal enforcement actions against individuals last year than it issued in 2015. On the flipside, enforcement actions against financial institutions fell by 24%… Singapore’s MAS fined Maiora Asset Management S$10,000 ($7,154) for late submissions of its auditor’s reports and financial statements between 2013 and 2015, in spite of repeated supervisory reminders. “The timely submission of accurate returns by financial institusions is necessary for effective supervision by MAS,” the regulator said… |
| More fintech partnerships… |
|
Following the fintech partnerships established with Japan and Abu Dhabi in the previous weeks, the MAS and France’s Autorité de Contrôle Prudentiel et de Résolution and the Autorité des Marchés Financiers have forged a fintech cooperation framework… |
| Good news in career development… |
|
Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines reported positive annual growth in hiring in the banking, financial services and insurance industry, according to a report by online job search firm Monster.com. Philippines had the steepest growth of 24% year-on-year ending February 2017, followed by Malaysia (13%) and Singapore (2%)… Singapore launched the company-initiated Professional Conversion Programme (PCP), which enables firm to develop a holistic training roadmap that can be contextualised to their specific organisation. With the launch of the programme, financial institutions will be able to develop more PCPs for other growth areas such as technology, wealth management and risk management. Currently, OCBC Bank is the first financial institution piloting the company-initiated PCP… |
