Capital Group expands HK team and fund range
Capital Group, the $1.5 trillion US fund house, has registered nine more products* for retail sale in Hong Kong and added two business development directors in the city.
This comes after the firm announced a distribution agreement with HSBC a few weeks ago and introduced four funds** for Hong Kong retail investors in May.
Capital has already taken the unusual step of ruling out using the Hong Kong-China cross-border mutual recognition scheme for selling its funds to mainland clients. Nor does it plan to establish a wholly foreign-owned entity in China. Instead it plans to set up an onshore presence and directly access the retail market, when regulators allow it.
All this is in line with Capital’s strategy – as outlined last year by chairman Jim Rothenberg – to service retirement needs by building a retail business in Asia. The firm manages $15 billion for investors in the region, representing a relatively small 1% of its total AUM.
It will be looking to expand that with the appointments of Christian Leger and Joyce Wong in newly created roles. They are joining the Hong Kong team tasked with further expanding the distribution network. Their responsibilities previously fell under the remit of the sales team in Singapore.
Leger (pictured left) will start on December 5, having moved from Capital’s Geneva office, where he has been a business development director for financial intermediaries across continental Europe. His responsibilities have been allocated to two other business development directors.
Wong was previously an associate director of sales at HSBC Global Asset Management in Hong Kong, where she covered Hong Kong, China and other Asian markets. Before joining HSBC, she was a marketing officer at Société Générale.
Leger and Wong will report to Grant Leon, Capital’s managing director of financial intermediaries for Europe and Asia.
Capital Group employs some 250 associates in Asia, including 11 portfolio managers, 42 analysts, nine economists and macroeconomists and 10 traders. In Asia, it has offices in Beijing, Hong Kong, Mumbai, Singapore, Sydney and Tokyo.
* The nine new funds are: Global Absolute Income Grower, Euro Bond Fund, Japan Equity Fund, Global Equity Fund, Asia-Pacific ex-Japan Equity Fund, World Dividend Growers, Global High Income Opportunities, Global Bond Fund, and Euro Corporate Bond Fund.
** The four funds registered in June are: European Growth and Income Fund, Global Growth and Income Fund, Global Allocation Fund, and New Perspective Fund.