Manulife AM's Hong Kong head of funds quits

The head of investment funds in Hong Kong at Canadian insurance asset manager Manulife asset management is leaving the firm, AsianInvestor can confirm.

Steve Chiu, vice-president for investment funds at Manulife Asset Management, has resigned after three years with the group and is working out his notice. He is due to exit on October 30.

A Manulife spokeswoman told AsianInvestor: "We can confirm that Steve Chiu is leaving Manulife Asset Management (Hong Kong). [Chiu's] departure will not affect the company's investment funds operations or its investment product offerings in Hong Kong."

Industry sources have pointed to Manulife's organisational restructuring as a factor in Chiu's departure. The spokeswoman declined to comment when asked if Chiu's departure was the result of the integration. "We have no more to add," she said.

Manulife has been integrating its wealth and asset management units in the region following the appointment of Michael Dommermuth as head of the combined business, as reported.

In the past few months it has hired Bruno Lee as Asia head of partnership, product and platform development for wealth and asset management, based in Hong Kong. He will work to expand relationships with key banks, and he has a hiring mandate to build a team to support the firm’s ambitions with wholesale intermediaries.

Manulife AM has also appointed Shirley Lam as its Asia head of wealth, affiliate wealth and asset management. Both Lee and Lam report to Dommermuth.

Chiu was head of investment funds in Hong Kong but also sat on the board of Manulife Asset Management International Holdings. He spearheaded the firm's sales and marketing of wealth management products and his team provided support to the funds platform, according to his company biography. He reported to Dommermuth.

Chiu has more than 20 years' experience in the financial services industry and has extensive knowledge of wealth management products. He joined Manulife in 2012 from Chinese-owned fund house Bosera Asset Management (International) where he was managing director, as reported.

Prior to that he held senior management roles at several firms including AIA Wealth Management and HSBC Asset Management. He was also chairman of the Institute of Financial Planners of Hong Kong from 2012 to 2013.