BLF chief steps down; Temasek appoints new CEO; EPF replaces CEO; BlackRock names new Asia Pacific head; CIFM appoints new fund manager; M&G hires HK intermediaries head; Amundi creates OCIO division; Schroders names new Australia CEO; BNY Mellon WM closes HK office; HKEX appoints new CEO and more.
Korea Post names two new CIOs; M&G Real Estate replaces Asia CEO and CIO; Cbus names a people and culture executive; KKR MD Terence Lee quits; MetLife hires HK-based institutional and insurance head; HSBC makes trio of CIO appointments; CBRE account director transfers from HK; SC Lowy adds trader in London; and more.
Asset owners and managers are being drawn to private credit investments in China and India, but also other areas. However, Asia presents unique risk challenges too.
The chief executive's decision to step down after nearly 17 years ends an era of rapid evolution. New CEO Dilhan Pillay will need to accelerate Temasek's move into modern areas.
The state pension fund particularly wants to raise its overall foreign investments but will slow its appointment of external managers following last year’s bribery scandal.
Investors in Asia Pacific will likely see the low interest rate environment as an opportunity to add risk assets in the hope that the economic recovery is on the immediate horizon, but the case for owning gold in portfolios remains strong, according to Jaspar Crawley, Head of Distribution, APAC, at The World Gold Council.
Although the green economy represents an investment opportunity equivalent to a $4 trillion market cap, the rapid growth in recent years needs to accelerate further to achieve the goal of keeping global warming within 2 degrees.
The development of institutional grade financial infrastructure such as exchanges and custody arrangements has made digital assets more accessible to traditional fund houses, ETF issuers and other types of investors. Yet more consideration is needed about how to allocate to these assets and also mitigate the risks.
There is growing investor interest in managing the environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors inherent in securities lending – especially concerning voting rights – finds a consultation conducted by AsianInvestor and the Pan Asia Securities Lending Association (PASLA).