April’s most-read: Prudential Asia CIO changes; Canadian pension funds step up Asia hires
Prudential names new head of Hong Kong investments
Prudential Hong Kong appointed Fanda Ho to become head of investments, replacing chief investment officer (CIO) Ben Rudd, who took on the new role of chief wealth officer at the life insurer on March 25.
Ho was most recently director for strategic investments at Prudential Hong Kong, which she had joined in 2017. She will report to chief financial officer Nigel Knowles and meet regularly with the group CIO of Prudential Corporation Asia.
Prudential’s Asia group CIO to leave on sabbatical
Group chief investment officer (CIO) Stephan van Vliet of Prudential Corporation Asia (PCA) will return home to the Netherlands while taking a sabbatical of up to 12 months from the end of June.
In his absence, his responsibilities will be overseen by Stephen Metcalfe, who will also continue in his role as chief capital officer.
Van Vliet has been group CIO since 2017, when he had joined from PineBridge Investments.
Canadian pension funds step up Asia recruitment drive
Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB), Ontario Municipal Employees’ Retirement System (Omers) and Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan (OTPP) are hiring for at least 26 roles across Asia Pacific.
Most of these positions are for investment professionals. CPPIB for instance is hiring portfolio managers in India and China, while OTPP is looking to add to its new Singapore branch, which opened in September.
Why few foreign funds are entering China’s $3tr mutual fund market
A year after China fully opened its massive mutual fund industry to direct foreign manager participation, many international players are still taking a “wait and see” attitude towards the $3.34 trillion market.
Some global players such as BlackRock, Fidelity International and Schroders have applied for new public fund management company licences, while others such as JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley, have chosen to go further and buy out their domestic joint-venture partners.
Still, however, more than 40 foreign-local asset managers have not observed acquisition bids from foreign partners, as foreigners still encounter many obstacles when looking to enter China’s local fund market.
How Australia’s super fund mergers can create deeper portfolios
The ongoing spate of superannuation fund mergers will end up creating a handful of huge funds that boast the resources to broaden out portfolios, cut costs and add expertise, say senior super executives.
At Aware Super, scale has brought benefits to members “in the form of reduced investment and administration fees, and better concentration of segments,” Michael Dundon of Aware Super told AsianInvestor.
The combined resources attained through merging have also allowed LGIA Super and Energy Super to invest in larger assets, LGIA chief executive Kate Farrar said.