AllianzGI expands multi-asset team
Allianz Global Investors has hired Michelle Leung from Manulife Asset Management as a senior product specialist for its multi-asset team, AsianInvestor can reveal.
Leung took up the newly created role in Hong Kong on June 1, reporting to Thomas Zimmerer, global head of multi-asset product specialists, and Stefan Nixel, Asia-Pacific chief investment officer for multi-asset.
Leung brings the regional multi-asset team up to eight, including Nixel, and there have been no departures from the desk this year, said a spokeswoman.
Her appointment reflects a major trend noted by recruiters in the past year or so for fund houses to offer up to 40% pay uplifts to lure multi-asset talent amid fierce competition. Particularly sought after are professionals with ‘solutions’ experience – those who can speak to clients and tailor products rather than simply selling ready-made strategies.
Aberdeen and Franklin Templeton are among the firms to have made senior multi-asset hires in the past few months, as first reported by AsianInvestor.
Leung was senior director of product development at Manulife AM, where she had worked for two years, according to her LinkedIn page.
Before that, Leung had been general manager and responsible officer at Chinese joint venture Fortune SG Asset Management (Hong Kong) from November 2012 to April 2014. She oversaw the establishment of the firm in Hong Kong, according to LinkedIn. She previously served as an investment manager at Fortune SG.
Leung has also worked at Citigroup as a senior associate banker, where she had been involved in designing multi-asset investment products.