Funds Selection Nexus Singapore 2023

Date:
28 September 2023
Time:
09:00 – 13:00, followed by a networking luncheon
Venue:
The Fullerton Hotel Singapore

Registration for this event is now closed.

This event is restricted to attendees from private banks, private wealth managers, IAMs, and family offices. All registrations are subject to approval by Asian Private Banker


Overview

Asian Private Banker’s is delighted to gather the key due diligence and fund selector leaders from private banks in Asia, to examine and discuss the ever changing demands of the Asian client, evolving product shelves, and how best to navigate volatile market conditions at the 10th Funds Selection Nexus in Singapore.

Agenda

08:30 Registration and coffee
09:00 – 09:10 Welcome remarks
09:10 – 09:40 The future of fixed income – How is enthusiasm for bonds changing long-term portfolio allocation?
Discussion points include:
– With higher forecasted yields than in the past, how are bonds being utilised as a source of positive real income and a potential buffer against a downside risk in equities?
– Are high-quality investment grade bonds just a short-term answer to high yield bonds or are we seeing a more structural shift in this direction?
– With major indexes performing well but only a few stocks driving real returns, what implications does this have for incentivising active investing? Is it the right time to focus on active strategies?
– What impact will the Fed and various banking crises have on Asia’s equity markets in the second half of the year?

Speakers:

Jansen Phee
Head of Funds Investment Solutions, Asia Pacific; Head of Global Investment Management, China, UBS Global Wealth Management
Rishabh Saksena
Head, Investment Specialists APAC, Bank Julius Baer
Karen Tan
Head of Investment Solutions and Managed Solutions, Asia, Pictet Wealth Management

09:40 – 09:55 Transition to breakout rooms
09:55 – 12:10 Breakout sessions

Workshop 1: Investing in America – Finding diversification in the land of the mega caps

Against a backdrop of extraordinary concentration in the US market, with the Mega Cap 8 representing 70% of the S&P 500’s performance in the first half of 2023, finding diversification in equities has become increasingly more important. This session explores how better risk adjusted returns may be available to investors further down the market cap spectrum. Jonathan Tredgett of Findlay Park will dispel the myth that you must sacrifice quality to find diversification in midcaps, and through deep fundamental research it is possible to identify companies that are able to weather any market environment.

Speaker:

Jonathan Tredgett
Portfolio Manager, Findlay Park

 


Workshop 2: Private credit – A whole new world of investing

While investors have long relied on bonds and broadly syndicated loans to generate yield, the growing prominence of private credit is expanding the universe of income investing. Private credit offers investors access to alternative yield and return sources, while reducing volatility. Where are the untapped opportunities within the direct lending space? How does asset-based lending, a strategy secured by collateral, bolster investment portfolios? Hear from Manulife Investment Management, as they unravel the benefits of their hybrid, diversified solution that focuses on generating high income by investing in quality middle market companies alongside opportunistic credit exposures.

Speakers:

Alex Catterick
Senior Managing Director, Head of Alternative Investment Solutions, Manulife Investment Management
Jonathan Glass
Managing Director, Business Development, Marathon Asset Management

 


Workshop 3: Two ideas to capture returns – Flexible bond & global macro

Inflation and rising interest rates are challenging traditional diversification methods, necessitating novel strategies for optimal returns. As such, balancing the investment portfolio with the flexibility to go where the best value lies across different asset classes can be helpful during uncertainty and volatility are the order of the day. In this session, Michael Dyer, multi asset and equities investment director and Pierre Chartres, fixed income investment director will explain how M&G Investments uses a flexible approach in global macro investing as well as fixed income investing strategies to pinpoint investment opportunities, manage risk and deliver attractive returns across a wide range of asset classes.

Speakers:

Pierre Chartres
Investment Director, Fixed Income, M&G Investments
Michael Dyer
Investment Director, Multi Asset and Equities, M&G Investments

 


Workshop 4: Asia high yield – Renewed opportunities for the right credits

Asia high yield offers much more than just Chinese property. And with relatively low default rates among corporates in the rest of the region, disciplined credit selectors can find attractive opportunities amid today’s market disruption via four key themes – the consumption-led recovery across Asia, the decarbonisation trend, extreme selectivity in Chinese property developers and companies with a strong liquidity backdrop. Accessing these requires active managers with investment processes that offer a differentiated way to use market dislocation to source alpha. Join PineBridge Investments’ Kelvin Heng, portfolio manager and credit analyst, and learn more about the right approach, strategy and positioning.

Speaker:

Kelvin Heng
Portfolio Manager & Credit Analyst, Fixed Income, PineBridge Investments

12:10 – 12:20 Networking break and transition
12:20 – 13:00 From risk to reward – Navigating market volatility, emerging trends and geopolitical risks across APAC
Discussion points include:
– How has China’s consumption-led economic recovery unfolded, and what sectors are expected to benefit the most from increased domestic demand?
– How significant is the geopolitical premium associated with investing in China, and what impact should it have on fund selection and overall investor sentiment?
– What are the implications of US-China tensions for Southeast Asian emerging markets, and what is the outlook for economic rebound in the region?
– Which industries and sectors in Southeast Asia show the most potential for investment, and how can wealth managers navigate market volatility, political instability and regulatory obstacles to safeguard investors’ interests?

Speakers:

Prashant Bhayani
Chief Investment Officer, Asia, BNP Paribas Wealth Management
James Cheo
Managing Director, Chief Investment Officer, Southeast Asia & India, Global Private Banking and Wealth, HSBC
Stefanie Holtze-Jen
Chief Investment Officer & Head of Discretionary Portfolio Management APAC, Deutsche Bank
Yankai Shao
Head of Investment Solutions, Asia, Lombard Odier Group

13:00 Networking lunch

Speakers

Prashant Bhayani
Chief Investment Officer, Asia, BNP Paribas Wealth Management

Alex Catterick
Senior Managing Director, Head of Alternative Investment Solutions, Manulife Investment Management

Pierre Chartres
Investment Director, Fixed Income, M&G Investments

James Cheo
Managing Director, Chief Investment Officer, Southeast Asia & India, Global Private Banking and Wealth, HSBC

Michael Dyer
Investment Director, Multi Asset and Equities, M&G Investments

Jonathan Glass
Managing Director, Business Development, Marathon Asset Management

Kelvin Heng
Portfolio Manager & Credit Analyst, Fixed Income, PineBridge Investments

Stefanie Holtze-Jen
Chief Investment Officer & Head of Discretionary Portfolio Management APAC, Deutsche Bank

Jansen Phee
Head of Funds Investment Solutions, Asia Pacific; Head of Global Investment Management, China, UBS Global Wealth Management

Rishabh Saksena
Head, Investment Specialists APAC, Bank Julius Baer

Yankai Shao
Head of Investment Solutions, Asia, Lombard Odier Group

Karen Tan
Head of Investment Solutions and Managed Solutions, Asia, Pictet Wealth Management

Jonathan Tredgett
Portfolio Manager, Findlay Park

Conversation Partners

Networking Partners

Location

The Fullerton Hotel
1 Fullerton Square, Singapore

Contact Us

Speaking Opportunities
[email protected]
Registration Enquiries
[email protected]
Sponsorship Opportunities
[email protected]

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Prashant Bhayani
Chief Investment Officer, Asia, BNP Paribas Wealth Management

Prashant Bhayani is the chief investment officer, Asia of BNP Paribas Wealth Management based in Singapore. Prashant leads the investment strategy and asset allocation advice in Asia and is a member of the global investment strategy committee.

Prashant joined BNP Paribas Wealth Management in January 2016 from J.P. Morgan Private Bank where he was a senior global investment specialist in Singapore. Before that, he was co-chief investment officer, co-Founder, managing partner of Cork Street Capital Advisors, a global equity alternatives firm based in London. Prior to that, Prashant was head of international equity specialist portfolios at Goldman Sachs Asset Management in London. Prashant is a highly accomplished professional who brings over 30 years of experience across asset classes in equity, fixed income, foreign exchange, and alternatives having worked in Asia, United Kingdom and the United States.

Prashant received a BA in Economics at Northwestern University in Evanston in 1991 and a MBA at INSEAD in Fontainebleau, France in 1997.

James Cheo
Managing Director, Chief Investment Officer, Southeast Asia & India, Global Private Banking and Wealth, HSBC

James Cheo is chief investment officer, Southeast Asia & India for global private banking and wealth at HSBC. Mr. Cheo is a member of the global investment committee for private banking and wealth management and also a member of the regional investment committee in Asia. In his role, he spearheads the development of investment strategies across all asset classes for private banking and wealth management clients in Southeast Asia.

Prior to rejoining HSBC Private Banking, James was senior investment strategist at Bank of Singapore, where he was responsible for asset allocation and thematic research. Before that, James assumed investment strategist roles at Barclays Wealth Asia. From 2004 to 2009, James served as senior economist at the Monetary Authority of Singapore, where he was part of the team that formulated policy actions for Singapore during the 2008 global financial crisis.

James graduated with first class honours in finance from Nanyang Technological University. He was awarded the chartered financial analyst charter in 2007.

Yankai Shao
Head of Investment Solutions, Asia, Lombard Odier Group

Yankai Shao is the head of investment solutions for Asia. Yankai joined Lombard Odier Investment Management in 2011 as a fixed income portfolio manager before joining the Private Clients unit in 2013. With extensive experience in managing UHNW and institutional client portfolios, Yankai has developed our investment activity in emerging markets, in Asia in particular, from Geneva, and has bolstered our investment offering for the Grandes Familles segment.

Yankai holds a dual MBA degree from Columbia Business School and London Business School. He is also a CFA charter holder and fluent in French, English, and Mandarin Chinese.

Jansen Phee
Head of Funds Investment Solutions, Asia Pacific; Head of Global Investment Management, China, UBS Global Wealth Management

Jansen Phee is the head of funds investment solutions for Asia Pacific at UBS Global Wealth Management. He is also the head of global investment management for China. In his first role, Jansen is responsible for UBS GWM’s fund offerings and fund agenda in the region. He is based in Singapore and chairs UBS’s Asia Pacific funds committee and is also a member of its global funds committee.

In his other role, Jansen is responsible for UBS GWM’s funds, alternatives, and wealth planning (life insurance and family trust) businesses in onshore China. Jansen previously also headed UBS’s discretionary fixed income and equity teams and was the head of the Singapore and Malaysia Investment Specialist team where he helped advise and structure investment solutions for clients. He has over 18 years of experience in investment advisory, discretionary management and research roles.

Jansen graduated from the London School of Economics with Honors in econometrics and mathematical economics.

Rishabh Saksena
Head, Investment Specialists APAC, Bank Julius Baer

Rishabh Saksena is head, investment specialists Asia at Bank Julius Baer. In this role, he is responsible for cross asset class product advisory.

Rishabh has 30 years of experience in the financial markets having worked at Citigroup and Bank of America/Merrill Lynch prior to joining Julius Baer in September 2013 as part of Julius Baer’s acquisition of Merrill Lynch International Wealth Management (outside of the US) from Bank of America.

Rishabh holds a bachelor’s degree in engineering from Bangalore University and a post graduate in management from the Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow.

Karen Tan
Head of Investment Solutions and Managed Solutions, Asia, Pictet Wealth Management

Karen is head of investment solutions and managed solutions, Asia for Pictet Wealth Management, covering the overall advisory business with a focus on managed solutions for Asia. She joined Pictet Wealth Management in 2020 as a fund specialist. Before this, she was with UBS Wealth Management where she was an investment specialist at the advisory and sales team, covering “under contract” solutions including discretionary mandates, advisory mandates, private assets and funds.

Prior to that, she covered managed solutions advisory including funds, alternatives, discretionary and advisory mandates during her tenure at Bank Julius Baer. Karen has more than 20 years of experience in the private banking industry. She started her career at Merrill Lynch and has also worked at HSBC Private Bank and Bank of Singapore.

Stefanie Holtze-Jen
Chief Investment Officer & Head of Discretionary Portfolio Management APAC, Deutsche Bank

Stefanie Holtze-Jen is the chief investment officer and head of discretionary portfolio management for APAC. She is responsible for all discretionary mandates such as multi-asset portfolios, fixed income portfolios and equity portfolios.

Holtze-Jen was most recently global chief currency strategist, portfolio manager, at asset manager DWS, where she coordinated a team to guide the portfolio managers on strategy in foreign-exchange exposure covering the macro view, positioning and technical analysis.

Based in Singapore, she is responsible for the development for the Asian part of the house view of Deutsche Bank International Private Bank. Prior to DWS, Holtze-Jen held different leadership roles at Commerzbank AG and Royal Bank of Canada in Hong Kong, Singapore and London.

Holtze-Jen is a member of the Singapore Foreign Exchange Committee under the Monetary Authority of Singapore. She was nominated and is serving as co-vice chair of the Global Foreign Exchange Committee for a two-year term.

Kelvin Heng
Portfolio Manager & Credit Analyst, Fixed Income, PineBridge Investments

Kelvin Heng joined PineBridge Investments in 2016 and is a portfolio manager and credit analyst. He is responsible for evaluating emerging market corporate bonds for all Asia and emerging market portfolios.

Previously, Kelvin worked in the Asia credit research team at Bank of America Merrill Lynch in Hong Kong, covering a mix of high yield and investment grade credits across China, India and Southeast Asia. Prior to that, he worked at Barclays in London on the European credit research team, covering European high yield and investment grade credits in the retail, consumer and services sectors. Kevlin received a Bachelor of Commerce in finance from the University of British Columbia. He is also a CFA charterholder.

Alex Catterick
Senior Managing Director, Head of Alternative Investment Solutions, Manulife Investment Management

Alex heads alternative investment solutions in the private wealth and global retail channel and has responsibility for the private markets retail strategy and the development & growth of products for high-net-worth investors. He has over two decades of experience in alternative investments, wealth management, asset allocation and capital markets,
previously serving as regional head of alternative investments for the Americas at HSBC. He also worked at Barclays Wealth Management, J.P. Morgan Private Bank and CIBC World Markets.

Alex started his career with KPMG in Toronto and is a Chartered Professional Accountant. He is also Series 7 & 63 licensed.

Jonathan Glass
Managing Director, Business Development, Marathon Asset Management

Jonathan is responsible for business development, product development, capital raising and client service activities focused on leading private wealth and intermediary platforms, high-net-worth individuals and registered investment advisors. Previously, he was a product development director at FS Investments (formerly Franklin Square), responsible for researching, designing and launching alternative credit investment offerings. He also worked at BlackRock’s alternatives division where he helped position and sell the firm’s hedge fund and private equity strategies across global institutional clients.

Jonathan began his career as a fixed income sales and trading analyst at Royal Bank of Scotland. He holds a B.A. from the University of Michigan.

Jonathan Tredgett
Portfolio Manager, Findlay Park

Jonathan Tredgett joined Findlay Park in 2011 and is a portfolio manager of the Findlay Park American Fund. Prior to joining Findlay Park, Jonathan was a portfolio manager and partner at Cheyne Capital LLP, where he managed portfolios for the Value Fund and US Absolute Return Strategy. Between 1994 and 2006, Jonathan worked on the US institutional equities desks at UBS and Morgan Stanley.

Pierre Chartres
Investment Director, Fixed Income, M&G Investments

Pierre is an investment director in the fixed income team. His role involves explaining the investment philosophy, process and performance of M&G’s fixed income fund range, as well as providing updates on overall financial market performance, investment trends and the economic outlook​.

Before joining M&G in 2013, Pierre worked at BNY Mellon Asset Management for seven years, most recently as a portfolio strategist designing, developing and managing multi-asset investment solutions. Prior to that, he spent two and a half years at Natixis Asset Management in Paris​.

He has a masters-level degree in business and finance from ESSCA Business School, Angers, France and is a CFA charterholder.

Michael Dyer
Investment Director, Multi Asset and Equities, M&G Investments

Michael Dyer is an investment director covering multi-asset and equity investments, based in Hong Kong. Michael joined M&G in 2019. Prior to joining M&G, Michael worked at Neuberger Berman in Hong Kong, as a client portfolio manager for multi-asset, liquid alternative and equity investments and Morgan Stanley Investment Management, in London, in multi-alternative and hedge fund portfolio solutions. Overall, Michael brings over 21 years of experience working in the investment management industry.

Michael graduated from University of Leeds and holds the chartered financial analyst (CFA) and chartered alternative investment analyst (CAIA) designations.