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Table of Contents
Overview 3
People Moves 5
Sales & Marketing 7
Fund Management 9
Risk, Compliance & Operations 10
By the Numbers… 11
Summary 12
page 3
Overview
Whilst Q1 can be considered something of a quiet quarter for the industry, Q2 saw an explosion in
hiring with a significant increase in mandates across the front and middle office compared to the first
quarter.
Much of this hiring can be attributed to the April announcement of the Hong Kong-China mutual
recognition scheme. The long-awaited scheme launched on July 1st and finally grants investment
managers in Hong Kong off-shore access to investors in the world’s largest economy. On the flip side
Hong Kong investors will, for the first time, be able to invest in Mainland funds – these funds have
enjoyed high rates of return over the last couple of years and should appeal to investors in the Special
Administrative Region.
With the announcement of the launch something of a surprise, a number of investment managers
immediately began to push forward with their hiring plans and this led to a significant number of
mandates for sales and business development professionals with extensive client coverage in China.
Elsewhere, those firms without eligible products under the scheme began to look at their product
and investments teams. We saw a marked increase in the number of mandates for product
development professionals in Q2 and this looks set to continue for the rest of the year. Finally,
managers continued to look at expanding their risk and compliance functions, particularly in light of
the mutual recognition scheme. Compliance professionals with knowledge of the incoming rules and
regulations, along with experience of liaising with the relevant regulatory bodies in Hong Kong and
China were – and remain – in high demand.
Away from Hong Kong, Singapore also enjoyed something of a renaissance in terms of hiring. Credit
analysts were high on the agenda for a number of fund managers in the City-State and went to show
that in spite of the great rotation in to equities, candidates with experience in investment grade or
high yield credit research remain in demand. We also saw mandates for compliance and finance
professionals, though not quite to the same level as in Hong Kong.
Perhaps the most interesting takeaway from the second quarter, aside from the mutual recognition
scheme, was that the majority of our mandates were for sales and business development
professionals. Many in the industry are in agreement that 2015 truly is the year of the business
developer and over 70% of our mandates in Q2 were for these professionals. Interestingly, the bulk
of these mandates were at the senior level – Director level and above – and there was a pretty even
split between firms looking for institutional versus wholesale. Managers continue to place an emphasis
on expanding their private bank coverage and candidates with private wealth relationships therefore
remain very much in demand.
Traditionally, Q3 has tended to be a little quiet for the industry, with the summer lull meaning many
firms put their hiring on hold until September time. However, as we approached the end of Q2 and
head in to Q3, the market certainly shows no signs of slowing down. The mutual recognition scheme
should ensure a steady stream of hiring continues in to the summer months and senior level sales
professionals are moving on an almost weekly basis. We’re therefore optimistic that 2015 is going to
turn out to be one of the better years for the industry.
page 4
People Moves
Sales & Marketing
Barings Asset Management appointed Edmund Chong as Head of Sales, Marketing, Client
Service & Business Development – Distribution, Asia ex-Japan. Chong joined from HSBC
Global Asset Management where he had led the wholesale business development team
Arnaud Mounier, formerly CIO of Axa Asia, joined AllianceBernstein as a Managing Director
responsible for leading its Asian insurance business development function
Franklin Templeton appointed Stephanie Hukins as Director of Consultant Relations, Asia
Pacific. Based in Sydney, Hukins joined from Hermes Investment Management, with
responsibility for managing and building relationships with consultants across the Asia Pacific
region
US asset manager TIAA-CREF announced the opening of its new distribution office in Sydney
and the hire of Andrew Kleinig, responsible for directing the firm’s strategy in Australia and
Asia
Audrey Wong joined Pictet Asset Management as its Regional Head of Distribution for
Southeast Asia, focusing on private banks. Wong was previously a Vice President at JP Morgan
Asset Management, responsible for intermediary business development
Fidelity hired Sabrina Gan as Head of Private Banks Distribution, Southeast Asia. Gan joined
from Blackrock where she was Head of Retail, Singapore and her hire formed part of Fidelity’s
wider distribution build out in Singapore
Stephanie Zhang joined Legg Mason in Hong Kong as Assistant Vice President, Business
Development. She moved from UBS SDIC Asset Management and is responsible for expanding
the firm’s relationships with institutions in China
Standard Life Investments promoted Sam Clothier to the position of Investment Director,
Head of Southeast Asia Institutional Business. Clothier has been with a SLI since 2009
JP Morgan Asset Management confirmed the promotion of Rachel Farrell to Head of Sovereign
& Insitutional, Asia Pacific-ex Japan, replacing Andrew Economos who joined Capital Group
last year
Wendy Tan moved to Baring Asset Management as Head of Marketing, Asia ex-Japan. She was
previously part of the regional marketing team at Eastspring Investments
Anne Lui, previously Head of Marketing at Barings, rejoined Value Partners as Senior Director
of Marketing & Communications. Lui had previously been at Value Partners between 2011
and 2013
page 5
Mirae Asset Global Investments hired Eldora Wong as Sales Director for institutional clients.
Wong had held a similar role at Robeco
Ariel Investments opened their first office in the Asia Pacific region and hired Ian Webber to
lead it. Based out of Sydney, Webber is tasked with expanding the firm’s institutional coverage
across the region
Old Mutual Global Investors expanded their distribution team with the hire of Allen Chiu as
Senior Sales Manager, responsible for developing relationships with local distributors in Hong
Kong as well as global financial institutions
UBS Global Asset Management embarked on a build out of their marketing team in Singapore
with the hires of Lydia Lee and Yunar Teo. Lee was appointed Head of Marketing, Asia Pacific,
moving from Aberdeen Asset Management where she had been a Regional Marketing Manager.
Teo joined from Fidelity Investments in a senior marketing capacity
Capital Group expanded their North Asia coverage with the hires of Andrew Hwang and
Berry Hsieh. Hwang joined from Janus Capital to cover Korea and Hsieh moved from Robeco
and is responsible for Taiwan coverage
Mark Li was appointed Head of Institutional Business, China at HSBC Global Asset
Management. Li was previously Chief Investment Officer at HSBC’s Life Insurance arm
Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management confirmed the hire of Thomas Hu as Head of Global
Client Group, Asia ex-Japan. Hu replaced Ken Tam, who had only been in the role for a litt le
over a year
Sean Freer joined Franklin Templeton Investments as Senior RFP Product Specialist, Equities.
Freer had been an Investment Writer at Russell Investments in the UK
AllianceBernstein hired Karen Tan as a Marketing Manager, based in Singapore. Tan joined
from UTI International where she had held a similar role
Charmian Wan moved to Lazard Asset Management as Director, Business Development &
Marketing, Asia ex-Japan. She was previously Head of Sales, Asia ex Japan at Bluebay Asset
Management
Philip Fok was appointed Head of Wholesale Distribution, Hong Kong at Robeco. Fok had
previously spent three years at Manulife as a Senior Director responsible for regional strategic
channel development
M&G Investments relocated Jeik Sohn to Singapore as the firm’s first investment specialist in
Asia. Sohn has been with M&G since 2009, based out of London
page 6
Fund Management
UBS Global Asset Management appointed Vivien Ng as Equity Strategist, Director. Ng had
previously been with ANZ for a number of years in editorial product management and
governance roles
Manulife Asset Management hired Eric Liu as a Portfolio Manager for its four-member Hong
Kong dollar and renminbi fixed income team. He replaced Ronald Chan who was promoted
to Head of North Asia Investments
Lily Chan joined Lazard Asset Management as Vice President, Asian Equities. She had
previously been with MFS Investment Management as a Senior Investment Research Associate
Johan Du Preez rejoined M&G Investments, moving from Eastspring Investments, along with
two Japan equity funds
Colchester Global Investors hired Martyn Simpson as a Portfolio Manager, responsible for
managing the firm’s Global Bond, Index Linked and Emerging Market Debt portfolios. Simpson
was previously with Mercer Investments
Ayaz Ebrahim joined JP Morgan Asset Management in a senior equity investment role. He had
been with Amundi for four years as CIO for Asia ex-Japan equities
Risk & Compliance
Chris Yu moved to Standish Mellon Asset Management as Risk & Compliance Director. He
had previously held the same role at BNY Mellon’s investment management arm
page 7
Sales & Marketing
Overview
If Q1 saw a relatively steady stream of business development mandates, Q2 saw the market for these
sales professionals explode. 2015 is really shaping up to be the year of the business developer and as
our people moves section above demonstrates, the majority of hires in the industry have been for
senior sales personnel. This has not been restricted to just a few firms, either, both global and regional
asset managers have expanded their sales teams this past quarter and it has demonstrated that, after
a relatively quiet 2014, sales and business development professionals are back in demand.
In terms of where the hiring happened, a large majority seemed to be at the senior level, with a
number of head-level moves coming in Q2. Fidelity, for instance, has been aggressively building out
its distribution team in Singapore this year and appointed industry veteran Sabina Gan from Blackrock,
as Head of Private Banks Distribution, SEA. Last year it hired Szu Yi Chin to head up intermediary
sales and it is reportedly still looking to add to its distribution team as we head in to Q3.
Q2 continued to build on the trend for asset managers to hire sales profess ionals to cover private
banks. We anticipated that business developers with extensive ties to private banks would be in
demand in 2015, after a surge of mandates towards the end of 2014, and the second quarter certainly
confirmed this. The hiring of Sabina Gan shows how keen candidates are currently to focus on private
bank channels - Gan herself moving from a Head of Retail role – and she is not the only example in
the market. Over the last eighteen months a number of sales professionals have moved away from
broader distribution roles and in to positions that allow them to focus entirely on developing their
private bank relationships. This trend shows no sign of abating.
Elsewhere, institutional sales personnel have been in very high demand, particularly in Hong Kong. As
we touched on above, the mutual recognition scheme has had managers in the Special Administrative
Region clamouring to hire experienced business developers with strong ties to institutional clients in
China. Outside of Hong Kong, managers in Singapore continue to retain an interest in institutional
sales professionals with South East Asia coverage.
Moving to marketing, and whilst it’s been a slower quarter for these professionals we have seen a
couple of major moves, namely from Barings, Value Partners and UBS Global Asset Management, the
latter of whom have been building out a new marketing function in Singapore. Digital marketers
remain of interest to asset managers and Q2 saw a couple of managers hiring in this regard.
Finally, there were a number of moves for product development professionals, particularly in Hong
Kong. Again, in tandem with the mutual recognition scheme, managers looked to add product
developers with experience of developing and launching products that comply with the scheme as
well as with liaising with the relevant regulatory bodies in Hong Kong and China.
page 8
Institutional vs Wholesale
Institutional Wholesale
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Sales/Business
Development
Marketing &
Communications
Client Services Product
Management
Mandate By Function
Our Mandates
In terms of our mandates, a vast majority (85%) were for sales and business development
professionals, confirming the trends we’ve been seeing in the market. Breaking this down further, the
split between institutional and wholesale mandates was about even (55% vs 45%) but looking at our
mandates from a purely wholesale perspective, over 90% were for private bank coverage.
We saw only a handful of marketing and client services mandates in Q2 and the rest of the roles we
worked were for product development personnel (9%), confirming that Q2 really has been a good
one for sales professionals.
A closer look at our distribution
mandates
Private Banks Intermediary Retail Insurance
page 9
Mandate by Function
Credit Analyst Equity Analyst Equity PM Fixed Income PM
Fund Management
Overview
Q1 was a comparatively quiet one for the fund management professional, following a strong year in
2014. However, Q2 has seen hiring for investment management professionals pick up. In Singapore,
we saw Lazard add Lily Chan as Vice President, Asian Equities, whilst Johan Du Preez moved from
Eastspring to parent Prudential’s other investment manager, M&G. In Hong Kong, Ayaz Ebrahim took
on a senior equity investment role at JP Morgan Asset Management and Manulife expanded their Asian
Equities team. In Singapore, BNP Paribas Investment Partners have been adding to their ASEAN
equities team as part of a wider build out. Whilst it seems clear that many investment managers are
continuing to focus on equities and move away from fixed income, there has been one major trend
we’ve examined in Q2: the rise of the credit analyst.
Towards the end of 2014 and in to 2015 we saw some sporadic hiring from firms looking for credit
analysts, but Q2 has seen a whole host of managers looking to add experienced credit research
professionals to their teams. Singapore has seen the bulk of the hiring, with no less than six managers
looking to hire, and it goes to show that candidates with exposure to investment grade and high yield
credit research across Asia continue to be sought after. We do expect to see something of a slow-
down in the hiring of these professionals as we move in to Q3, but it has at least been something of
a renaissance for these fixed income profiles.
Outside of this, we have also seen managers in Hong Kong hiring for Greater China equity investment
professionals. Those with experience of covering the China market have been of particular interest
and there have been a number of mandates for senior research personnel with extensive experience
of covering Mainland stocks. Towards the end of the quarter, our research suggests there was a
significant increase in mandates for A-Shares and H-Shares investment analysts and again, this is likely
tied to the Hong Kong-China mutual recognition scheme. These candidates remain highly sought
after, though our research indicates that demand is outstripping supply.
Our Mandates
As per our research, the majority of our mandates in this space were for credit analysts (65%). We
also saw a relatively high demand for equity investment researchers, analysts and portfolio managers
(25%), whilst the rest of our mandates were for fixed income portfolio managers. Over 85% of the
mandates were for mid to senior level professionals, with around 10% looking for junior level staff.
The data from our mandates would seem to suggest that there is still relatively little hiring going on
at the very senior level in this space, and judging by the key people moves, this would appear to be
the case.
page 10
Mandate by Function
Compliance Risk
0
20
40
60
80
100
Compliance Risk
Mandates by Seniority
Junior Mid-Level Senior
Risk, Compliance & Operations
Overview
In our last market update we stated that whilst there continued to be a demand for risk and
compliance professionals in Asia, the hiring had slowed somewhat in Q1. The same cannot be said
for Q2 and it’s safe to say that risk and compliance remains a ‘hot’ area for recruitment. Whilst hires
in this space are rarely reported, our own research suggests that mandates for these professionals
have steadily increased as the quarter has gone on. Again, the likely reason for this is the mutual
recognition scheme and the additional rules and regulations that the scheme has brought with it.
Compliance professionals, in particular, have been highly sought after in Hong Kong. In Singapore,
our research suggests that compliance professionals made up a number of the people moves in Q2
and that these tended to be at the senior level. Looking at the major job boards, our research confirms
that mandates for compliance professionals in Q2 made up a significant percentage of the overall job
postings in this space (over 75%).
There has also been hiring for risk personnel, although not at the same level as their compliance
counterparts and certainly not near the levels we saw in 2014. Ultimately, it remains the case that a
large number of managers completed their risk and compliance hiring last year and therefore a large
majority of the hiring that has taken place in this space has been attrition hiring.
There were a handful of operations hires in Q2 though, again, it seems that turnover was relatively
low post bonus season and most firms have settled teams. Aberdeen Asset Management have been
aggressively hiring, though we understand much of this can be attributed to turnover.
Our Mandates
The front office continues to be where we see the majority of our mandates, but there was a marked
increase in Q2 for risk and compliance professionals. In terms of our mandates, most of the roles
we worked in this space were at a senior level and over 60% were at the Head-level for each
function, respectively. Over 30% were mid to senior level mandates with junior hires making up a
very small percentage. Looking at it head-to-head, over 70% of our mandates were for compliance
professionals, with 25% for risk and 5% for operations.
page 11
By the Numbers…
page 12
Summary
As seems to be the norm for the industry in Asia, the post-Chinese New Year bonus season has led to a
significant increase in hiring from Q1. More interestingly has been where the hires have taken place. Whilst
2014 was very much the year of the risk and compliance professional, 2015 has thus far proved to be all
about asset raising personnel.
Our own data suggests that hiring for sales and business developers in 2015 has outstripped that in
previous years, going back to 2012. Whilst Q1 was a slow quarter, there were still a number of key people
moves at major asset management firms and Q2 has seen this figure significantly increase. Much of the
hiring can be attributed to the mutual recognition scheme, which has led managers in Hong Kong to
bolster their sales teams but the same can also be said for the fact that wealth in Asia continues to rise at
a rapid pace, led by the Chinese, Indian and ASEAN markets. This has been evidenced by the fact that
investment managers have been keen to add dedicated sales personnel to target private banks across the
region, aware that this channel has access to the region’s wealthiest investors and that this is likely to be
where the majority of their AUM comes from in the coming years. We also believe the increase in hiring
in this space is down to global firms starting to re-focus their efforts in Asia. We have had discussions
with several managers who said that whilst the last couple of years has seen them focusing on international
expansion, they are now looking again at building their teams in Asia and focusing on gathering additional
assets from the region.
Outside of sales and business development, we saw hiring for investments professionals pick up steadily
as the second quarter went on. Investment personnel with equity experience remain in demand,
particularly those with Greater China focus and experience in A-Shares and H-Shares stock picking. We
also saw a somewhat unexpected increase in demand for credit analysts, with a number of Singapore
managers looking to add these professionals in Q2. By our own research, a large number of the major
fixed income houses were looking at filling vacancies in their credit research team in the previous quarter.
Finally, as expected, hiring for risk and compliance professionals remains a hot area, though perhaps not
quite to the same levels as 2014. Compliance personnel are particularly sought after, especially senior
level professionals with experience of Hong Kong and China regulations and of dealing with the regulatory
bodies.
Q3 is typically a slower quarter for the industry, with many employees taking holiday over the traditional
‘summer’ months. However, as the quarter begun, we have yet to see a tapering off in demand from our
clients and we expect that strong sales and business developers in the region with extensive institutional
or private bank client coverage will continue to receive offers from managers across the region. The same
can be said for compliance professionals, though the second half of the year does tend to see a slow-down
in hiring for investment personnel. We anticipate that much of the hiring in this space has already occurred.
Certainly with the new fund passporting schemes and the rapid rise of wealth, the Asian asset management
space has never been in a stronger position and our research suggests that hiring is in line with the high
levels of excitement surrounding the future of the industry.
page 13
CONTACT
US
A: 16 Collyer Quay, #21-20, Singapore 049318
T: +65 6818 9522
A: 17/F, China Building, 29 Queen’s Road Central,
Central, Hong Kong
T: +852 3478 3956
