Top 25 fund selectors: Karen Tan, Tang Hsiao Ching
AsianInvestor conducted a recent project to identify the most influential protagonists in fund selection and distribution in Hong Kong and Singapore. You can find more background on the project by clicking here.
Here we unveil numbers 24 and 25, the final two gatekeepers on the list, by alphabetical order. We have already published all the previous write-ups (see the list at the end of this article). The full feature appears in the November issue of AsianInvestor magazine.
Karen Tan
Director of global fund solutions for Asia Pacific, Deutsche Bank Private Wealth Management
Outspoken and direct in her dealings with providers, Karen Tan leads the advisory effort covering mutual funds and hedge funds for Asia at Deutsche Bank Private Wealth Management. She selects funds from a global list approved by the due diligence team.
Fund firms in Asia see her as influential. “Without Karen’s endorsement, your fund can’t get in,” said one asset management executive.
Due diligence at the bank is a global function and currently there is no representation in this region. Hence, Tan’s team of eight across Hong Kong, Singapore and Mumbai work closely with the team in Germany to ensure Asian clients’ needs are represented.
Once a fund is approved, the Asia team works with providers on the on-boarding process, including signing distribution agreements and operational set-up. It then arranges product education for Deutsche’s bankers and investment advisers.
Once a fund is launched, Deutsche expects management firms to provide after-sales services and be proactive in sending updates that could affect fund marketing.
Tan’s advice to providers who want to get on Deutsche’s recommended list is to be cognisant of its house view and CIO themes and to focus on their strategy’s relevance to end-investors and the market environment.
She joined Deutsche in 2007 and was previously head of product management for the advisory business at Citi Private Bank Singapore.
As of June 2015, Deutsche’s global assets sourced from its private clients reached €351 billion of the bank’s global total of €1.1 trillion. The bank declined to divulge private clients’ AUM sourced from Asia.
Tang Hsiao Ching
Head of advisory and sales for managed investments, Bank of Singapore
Replacing Bank of Singapore’s highly respected funds gatekeeper Chandrima Das will be no easy task for Hsiao Ching Tang. She only recently arrived as head of sales and advisory for the managed investments team from Julius Baer, where she had served as head of fund solutions.
Tang is tasked with running BoS’s team of advisers responsible for marketing and servicing managed investment solutions, including discretionary portfolio mandates, mutual funds and hedge funds.
Some say it is too early to credit Tang’s influence at BoS. But providers wanting to get on the platform of OCBC’s regional private bank will be dealing with her.
Tang declined to be interviewed by AsianInvestor. In an emailed response, the bank noted it screens and monitors funds on a quantitative and qualitative basis, working with an external consultant and reviewing funds periodically. It said it has an open architecture framework across asset classes and global execution.
“Consistency of performance and the reasons for the outperformance are central to the manager evaluation process,” the bank stated.
BoS has 100 to 120 mutual funds on its approved list, split into 60 categories, with one to two in each. It has relationships with about 65 long-only managers. BoS said the AUM of its managed investment products had grown by a compounded rate of 50% per annum for the past few years and remained a key focus.
Formed in 2010 by the merger of OCBC's private bank with ING's Asian private bank, BoS had $52 billion in AUM as of September this year across offices in Singapore, Hong Kong, the Philippines and Dubai.
The other individuals identified from the list so far:
Roger Bacon, Citi Private Bank
Ernest Chan, Morgan Stanley Private Wealth Management
Leo Cheung, AIA Pension and Trustee
Dany Dupasquier, Standard Chartered
Sam Edwards, HSBC Private Bank
James Fava, UBS Wealth Management
Lina Lim, JP Morgan Private Bank
Alfred Mak, Bank of East Asia (Hong Kong)
Richard Mak, Pictet Wealth Management Asia
Stanley Ngan, Sun Life Asset Management (Hong Kong)
Herbert Suen, Barclays Wealth and Investment Management