AXA Hong Kong taps Prudential for CIO
Fanda Ho has joined AXA Hong Kong as its chief investment officer this week, the insurer confirmed to AsianInvestor.
Ho was formerly Prudential Hong Kong’s head of investments.
AsianInvestor understands that her last day with Prudential was February 10 and that the British insurer is in the process of identifying her successor.
At AXA, Ho replaces former CIO Richard Chan, filling a position that was vacant for over four months.
Chan, who was also Asia head of asset and liability management, left AXA in September 2022, and joined New World Development’s FTLife as chief investment and ALM officer.
AsianInvestor was first to report on Chan's move.
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AXA didn’t respond to AsianInvestor’s query about whom Ho reports to or who assumes Chan’s former responsibilities on ALM.
As of the end of March 2022, AXA Hong Kong had $25 billion of assets under management.
By June 2022, the French life insurer ran an investment team of 14 investment professionals in Hong Kong, including the CIO, to oversee its assets in Hong Kong and a small portion from Macau.
Like other life insurance companies in town, AXA Hong Kong’s investment team is in charge of top-down asset management and strategic asset allocation (SAA), while its investment arm, AXA Investment Managers, executes investment decisions and handles day-to-day management of the portfolio.
Ho has worked about 15 years in the insurance industry. She was with Prudential Hong Kong for over five years, starting out in September 2017 as director and head of strategic investments.
She was apppointed head of investments in April 2021, and was in charge of overseeing the British life insurer’s Hong Kong portfolio of $70 billion.
Ho has also previously worked in the UK with Aviva Investors and Prudential Assurance.