This week…
| China’s first fund industry court |
|
China has set up its first “fund industry court” in Beijing yesterday, according to a Wechat post from the Asset Management Association of China (AMAC). The court will handle cases such as conflicts between the fund houses and investors or lenders, or problems arising from fund managers’ operations. AMAC said it received 1,454 industry-related complaints last year, more than double those in 2015… |
| ESG |
|
ESG-focused fund manager Impax Asset Management’s AUM increased by 27% to £5.7bn ($7.35bn) during the first six months ending 31 March, according to the firm’s interim results. As of end-April, total assets was around £6bn, with total net inflows of around £870m during the period… |
| People moves |
|
Chinese wealth manager Jupai Holdings has announced changes to its senior management team and board of directors. Ni Jianda has been appointed as CEO and co-chairman of the board, effective immediately. He replaced Hu Tianxiang, who resigned from the firm due to personal reasons. Ni no longer serves as the executive chairman of the board. Separately, the firm said its AUM increased by 19.2% to RMB 43.1bn ($6.3bn) from end-December and a 101% increase from March last year… Hong Kong’s Value Partners saw a number of senior management departures. These include:
They left due to personal reasons, according to a Hong Kong-based spokeswoman for the firm. Separately, it hired Wayne Shum as head of sales and will be responsible for overseeing the firm’s intermediary and institutional business… |
| SFC news |
|
Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) has reprimanded and fined Promising Securities HK$3.5m ($450,000) for misappropriating around $8m worth of client assets following an enquiry by a client that 1,600 HSBC shares had gone missing from her trading account. The SFC found out that Promising employed and allowed the settlement staff, who were unlicensed, to perform regulated functions for its business in regulated activities and failed to implement adequate internal procedures to ensure effective segregation of its operational functions… Separately, the SFC said it will co-host two separate cyber-security workshops with the Hong Kong Police Force and the Hong Kong Computer Emergency Response Team Coordination of the Hong Kong Productivity Council on 25 and 26 May, respectively. The workshops follow SFC’s proposals on new security guidelines for online trading and robo-advisors… |
| Hedge funds |
|
Emerging market-focused hedge funds produced returns double that of developed market strategies in April for the fourth month in a row, according to an Evestment report. India-focused hedge funds emerged as the best-performing market in emerging markets (19.55%), followed by China-focused hedge funds (10.56%) and Brazil (10.12%)… |
| Hong Kong outlook |
|
A majority of Hong Kong’s finance decision makers expect the economy to grow this year, according to American Express‘ 2017 Global Business and Spending Monitor report. Among local respondents, 80% of 33 companies surveyed indicated that they expect modest or even substantial economic expansion for the rest of the year… |
