Aberdeen makes senior hires in Malaysia, Taiwan

UK-based Aberdeen Asset Management has made senior hires to expand its Islamic funds business in Malaysia and its institutional business Taiwan.

Daniel Choong has joined as head of distribution for Islamic funds in Malaysia and Darrel Chang as the firm's first head of institutional sales in Taiwan.

Aberdeen's business in Taiwan has been predominantly focused on wholesale funds, but Chang is tasked to grow the institutional business in line with the global ambition of the firm. He joined from rival UK fund house Schroders in Taipei, where he had spent five years as a vice president responsible for sales. 

He reports to Michelle Maa, acting country head of Aberdeen's Taiwan business, which had AUM of $1.18 billion as of end-September, of which $216 million are institutional assets.

Meanwhile, Choong joins from Nomura Islamic Asset Management in Malaysia, where he was chief executive for six years. 

He has not directly replaced anyone, but has assumed some of the responsibilities of Abdul Jalil Rasheed, former CEO of Aberdeen Islamic Asset Management, who moved to Invesco in Singapore in 2013 as reported. 

Choong is now tasked with building a team and expanding the Islamic fund range. Aberdeen has two Islamic funds at present – one investing in global equity and the other in Malaysian equity. A third will be launched soon, said a spokeswoman, but she declined to provide details.

“There are plans to expand our offerings, given our recent initiative to build our Malaysian office as the global hub for sukuk [Islamic bonds],” she noted, but did not provide any further detail.

Choong reports to Gerald Ambrose, Aberdeen's country head for Malaysia, who assumed Rasheed's responsibilities after he left. 

Neither Nomura nor Schroders responded by press time to requests for comment on the departures.