Hong Kong-based Value Partners made a round of job cuts last week, a company spokesperson told FSA.
According to the Securities and Futures Commission website, the trading licences for six individuals ceased on 8 September.
They are senior fund managers Anthony Chan and Doris Ho as well as Kong Hing Keung, Lau Hei Man, Priscilla Mi and Zhang Qin.
Ho’s LinkedIn page showed that she joined the company in 2006, while Chan joined Value Partners in 2014.
Kong and Mi both worked in Value Partners’ dealing department, where Mi was the director, according to an archive of the company’s webpage.
Zhang, who joined the company in 2017, was a senior equity analyst focused on China consumer, education, software and property management.
An auto-reply email from FSA to Chan, Ho and Zhang on the termination of licences showed “your email could not be delivered as the intended recipient is no longer at Value Partners Group”.
The company’s spokesperson declined to provide FSA with the names or the exact number of staff concerned.
In a response to FSA, the fund manager said the Asian investment landscape has substantially changed over the past few years, driven by the Covid-19 pandemic, changes in the regulatory environment and investors’ risk appetite.
The decision was made through a strategic review and streamlining of processes, which allowed the company to reduce headcount in a number of business functions via consolidation of roles, reduction of non-strategic positions and normal turnover, said Value Partners.
The company said it would look to redeploy its resources to further cater to the fast-growing wealth management market in Asia, meet global investors’ demands to invest in China and develop ESG investment products in the future.
Goldman Sachs
Globally, Goldman Sachs, a multinational investment bank and financial services company, is also planning its “biggest round of job cuts” since the pandemic, according to Bloomberg.
The firm is going to lay off several hundred staff starting this month as it restarts its annual cull of underperforming bankers.
Goldman Sachs has not replied to an enquiry from FSA on the scale and the details of its staff cut plans.
