Vontobel AM opens Singapore office

Vontobel Asset Management has opened an office in Singapore in a move to expand its footprint in Asia, according to a statement from the firm.

The firm also hired Benny Gay as Singapore-based head of intermediary clients for Asia and Jeremy Tan as relationship manager for intermediary clients in the region.

Besides Singapore, Vontobel AM has offices in Hong Kong and Sydney, according to the statement.

Gay replaced Suzanna Wong, head of intermediary distribution for Asia, who decided to leave the firm, according to a spokesperson for the firm.

Gay is responsible for managing relationships with global banks, as well as intermediary channels, in Hong Kong and Singapore, according to the statement. He will report to Ulrich Behm, Hong Kong-based CEO of the firm.

Gay has 12 years of relationship management experience in the asset and wealth management industry. Before Vontobel AM, he was head of private banks and intermediaries at DWS. Before that, he was client advisory to high net worth individuals at Citibank in Singapore.

Like Gay, Tan was at DWS, according to the statement.

“We have continued to gain additional distribution partners in Asia,” Behm said in the statement.

“The opening of our office in Singapore will enable us to further strengthen our activities related to global and regional banks and institutional investors in Asia-Pacific.”

In Hong Kong, the firm has 12 people, which include seven analysts, and plans to further expand to team, according to the spokesperson.

Behm added that the firm is seeing strong demand from global banks in Asia for its higher yielding income products, as well as emerging markets and Asian equities.

Elsewhere, the firm has been operating in Hong Kong since 2008, according to records from the Securities and Futures Commission. The Hong Kong office’s responsible officers include Behm and Suzanna Wong, who is an executive director and the firm’s head of intermediary distribution in Asia and institutions for Southeast Asia.

The firm offers its fund products to only accredited investors in Singapore and professional investors in Hong Kong, according to information from FE Fundinfo.