Fidelity poaches head of institutional RM from Invesco

Fidelity International is set to announce the appointment of Deborah Seto, formerly of Invesco, today as its new head of institutional relationship management in Hong Kong.

Seto, who returns to the Fidelity fold having started her career at the firm in 1996, will lead a team of seven relationship managers in servicing institutional clients, including defined benefit and defined contribution schemes, endowment funds and other accounts.

Her appointment comes on the back of the arrival of KP Luk from Schroders as head of institutional business for Fidelity International in Hong Kong. He replaced Conrad Cheng who left the firm earlier this year to join Lippo Investment Management.

Seto now reports to Luk and succeeds Daisy Ho who in May this year joined Fidelity International’s regional institutional team headed by Carlo Venes.

Kerry Ching, managing director for Fidelity International in Hong Kong, explains that while Cheng had been in charge of institutional sales only, Luk was responsible for both institutional relationship management and sales. Seto now reports to Luk, whereas before both Ho and Luk had reported directly to Ching.

“Traditionally if I look at the institutional business at the moment, a higher proportion of assets come from pension funds, and a lower proportion from separate accounts,” Ching says. “So we have been putting a lot of focus in that area and reaching out to clients on a more active basis. When you are managing a business, it is important to remain diversified and balanced.”

Seto began her career at Fidelity as a customer services representative and subsequently as an institutional account manager. After three years she joined Invesco’s institutional client relations team in 1999, and became its head of institutional client relations in 2004.

In response to AsianInvestor queries about whether Invesco had replaced Seto, a spokesperson for the firm said: “Deborah left Invesco in late September of her own accord. With her departure, we are looking to grow this position from covering Hong Kong to a regional role.”

Fidelity International, an affiliate of US-based Fidelity Investments, provides investment products and services to individuals and institutional investors outside the Americas. It manages $215.9 billion in assets as at March 31.