Bosera suffers Hong Kong sales staff exodus
China’s Bosera Asset Management has seen four salespeople leave its international operation in Hong Kong in recent months, amid rising competition from rivals for clients and talent.
Stanley Lam, formerly an associate director of business development at Bosera, started at Taikang Asset Management in Hong Kong on March 8, according to his Securities and Futures Commission licence. However, he told AsianInvestor he would be moving to another firm soon.
Jenny Kim joined US alternative investment firm Oaktree Capital Management in Hong Kong last month as an assistant vice-president, a newly created role focusing on Korean clients. She had been a sales manager at Bosera since December 2014 covering institutions in South Korea and Southeast Asia, according to her LinkedIn page. She has also worked for Pictet Asset Management.
Janice Hui, previously associate director of sales and client services for institutions at Bosera, started in April as an investment consultant at Willis Towers Watson. She has also worked for Allianz Global Investors and HSBC.
These moves came alongside another recent departure from Bosera, as first reported by AsianInvestor.
Laurence Lo, previously head of intermediary business at Bosera AM (International), joined Hong Kong’s Galaxy Treasure Financial Group in March as managing director for business development and client relationship management. Bosera said it had replaced Lo with Rebecca Fan, who joined the firm in October last year as a director.
The firm declined to comment on the other departures.
Bosera is not the only Chinese fund house to have seen staff leave recently.
Harvest Global Investments (HGI), the Hong Kong unit of Beijing-based Harvest Fund Management, is revamping its sales team and strategy. This led to HGI’s heads of product and Asia business development exiting in March, though other staff are set to join, as AsianInvestor reported in late May.
Chinese asset managers face growing pressure, as a result of both international rivals building mainland capabilities, and direct access to onshore assets becoming easier for foreign investors as Beijing steadily opens the country’s capital markets.
Mainland fund houses privately admit that they are concerned about increasing competition from foreign players.
Moreover, Mark Brugner, head of Asia-Pacific research at Willis Towers Watson, told AsianInvestor this month that the risks of using Chinese asset managers outweighed the benefits.