Last year, volatility was particularly pronounced in China’s traditional markets — the CSI 300 shaved 27% and local debt posted a record year for defaults, motivating the nation’s investors to look elsewhere to meet their high-return expectations for less risk. Responding to the demand and cementing its position as a leading provider of alternatives advisory services, CreditEase Wealth Management renewed its focus on its UHNW client base while leveraging its strong global network and robust due diligence and investment processes.Alternatives are an inherent component of CreditEase Wealth Management’s investment strategy titled ‘Three Golden Principles for Asset Allocation’, which focuses on cross-region, cross-asset, and overweight allocations to alternatives. To reap the benefits of scaling and diversification, the wealth manager employs a fund of funds approach to alternatives exposure across private equity, real estate, and hedge funds.

In addition to partnering with globally renowned private equity managers, CreditEase Wealth Management has also developed in-house funds such as a fintech investment solution and an Israeli innovation strategy — the first of its kind from a Chinese financial institution — to capture growth trends in technology locally and abroad. Established managers aside, the wealth manager also sources from ‘black horse funds’ — up-and-coming managers with high potential and a primary focus on TMT (technology, media, and telecommunications) or related sectors.

For its real estate allocation, CreditEase Wealth Management focuses on value, predominantly through top global and emerging partners. Its shelf boasts a variety of fund of funds solutions including opportunistic FoF, income FoF, and debt FoF, alongside selective co-investment opportunities across residential, office, retail, and hotel properties in the US, Europe, and Asia Pacific. And for clients’ hedge fund exposure, the wealth manager blends hedge fund allocations into its public equity FoF solutions across macro, quantitative hedging, event-driven, and CTA strategies.

China’s emergence as an alternatives investor is well documented, but to sustainably capitalise on an opportunity of such magnitude is no easy feat. In addition to robust asset growth, CreditEase Wealth Management has achieved strong performance across various alternative sub-asset classes, boasting a long-term IRR of illiquid investments and resilience against short-term market volatility in public markets.

CreditEase Wealth Management is Asian Private Banker’s Best Wealth Manager – Alternative Advisory for 2018.