This is a sponsored article from BNP Paribas Asset Management.  Marketing Communication – For professional investors only. For institutional investors only. Not for further distribution. James McAlevey, head of global aggregate & absolute return at BNP Paribas Asset Management (BNP Paribas AM), discusses how active unconstrained bonds mitigate risks throughout market cycles. Q1: What’s driving interest in absolute return bond […]

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UK asset manager Man Group sees opportunities in European companies with global growth prospects and Japan’s auto sector as private wealth clients look for diversification opportunities beyond the US market. “We had a great range of meetings across private banks and family offices […] A lot of those investors are coming to us to find non-US ideas and Europe is […]

The post Global plays for private banks? US$172bn manager backs Japan and Europe appeared first on Asian Private Banker.

Swiss pure play Pictet Wealth Management (Pictet WM) identifies a growing trend among clients to diversify into European markets and focus on AI, driven by increasing concerns over continued volatility in US markets. Noting the evolving geopolitics playing out since Trump’s “Liberation Day,” Karen Tan, head of managed solutions, Asia, Pictet WM, said there has been a sharp reset of […]

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BNP Paribas Asset Management (BNP Paribas AM) sees more Asian private wealth clients eager to invest in Europe to benefit from its strength against geopolitical shocks, and plans to offer a thematic strategy to capture this interest. “We’ve seen a lot of interest whenever we speak about non-US exposure […] There are a lot of searches going on by private […]

The post US$692bn manager woos Asian wealthy clients with European play appeared first on Asian Private Banker.

Deutsche Bank International Private Bank (IPB) on Wednesday announced it is offering its income-focused clients in Europe and Asia four Strategic Income Allocation (SIA) funds to complement its flagship Strategic Asset Allocation (SAA) funds, launched one year ago. The SIA funds are based on Deutsche Bank IPB’s CIO multi-asset allocation approach and aim to generate a regular stream of income […]

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Yield-seeking Asian investors are keen on tapping into the direct lending market in Europe, said US-based money manager Federated Hermes in an exclusive interview with Asian Private Banker. “We’ve seen a lot of interest from Asian investors,” said Patrick Marshall, head of private debt and collateralised loan obligations (CLOs) at Federated Hermes. “What we’re seeing is that the Asian investment […]

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US technology and China stocks may have occupied the minds of Asian HNW equity investors in the past few years, but the pandemic has highlighted neglected investment opportunities in Europe. The pandemic-battered EU member states reached an agreement on a COVID-19 recovery fund in July, which reignited political as well as economic faith in the entity — to the extent […]

The post Selectivity pays off in the oft-overlooked European markets during COVID-19 appeared first on Asian Private Banker.

The rising and steepening curves of the COVID-19 pandemic and its economic fallout have triggered a nearly month-long risk asset sell-off. How this will close out depends on what happens in the next few weeks, Michael Strobaek at Credit Suisse argued. This past weekend, Italy has reported the largest spike in new infections and death tolls, and a large part […]

The post Next two to four weeks crucial for financial markets: Credit Suisse’s Strobaek appeared first on Asian Private Banker.

Deutsche Bank Wealth Management has reduced Europe equities and emerging market (EM) bonds in its latest tactical asset allocation strategy, due to slower economic growth in the two markets. Although the wage level in the Eurozone continues to grow and low inflation remains supportive of consumer spending, Deutsche Bank Wealth Management believes Eurozone economic growth should continue to slow because […]

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Standard Chartered Private Bank is shifting equity exposure from Asia to US and Europe as the bank describes itself is “cautiously optimistic” about the overall risk assets, working from the assumption that the virus outbreak will peak this month. “The strong rebound in risk assets, following the brief pullback caused by the coronavirus outbreak, suggests the market impact of the […]

The post StanChart PB is rebuilding exposure via US and Europe equities appeared first on Asian Private Banker.

Markets are overestimating expected rate cuts from the Federal Reserve, according to Credit Suisse’s Michael Strobaek, who said that the central bank is likely to take a pause from here after its third cut last month. “Bond markets have become a little too aggressive in terms of expectations for further rate cuts from the US Fed,” the global CIO of […]

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As a demographic deficit approaches certain countries in Europe, Avaloq CEO Juerg Hunziker told Asian Private Banker that banks should democratise their wealth management services to secure the ability to make a profit. Amid private banks’ efforts to make their businesses more “future proof” — both Bank of Singapore and Maybank have launched digital upskilling programmes while Deutsche Bank optimised […]

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Bank of Singapore’s European subsidiary, BOS Wealth Management Europe (BOSWM), has officially opened nine months after the private bank received the green light from regulators. The Luxembourg-headquartered business, which includes a branch in London, marks a step up in ambition for the private bank which had previously serviced its European clients out of Singapore and via the London office of […]

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Account aggregation platform Canopy has announced its plans to expand to Zurich in an effort to “lock down” market opportunities in Europe, CEO and founder Tanmai Sharma told Asian Private Banker. Interestingly, the move was prompted by Canopy’s ability to handle a format that competitors, according to Sharma, cannot: the PDF. “Even after five years, Canopy seems to be the only […]

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Thematic equity strategies are set to remain an important offering for Asian private banking clients, as advisory services driven by investor desire for capital growth persists, according to Jupiter Asset Management (Jupiter AM). Over the past 12 months, Jupiter AM has seen healthy demand for thematic and niche strategies, told Peter Swarbreck, the firm’s head of Asia Pacific. He noted […]

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Now is the time for investors to give up some liquidity in financial markets in order to profit from opportunities in less liquid assets, Indosuez Wealth Management has told APB Mandate. The bank says that investors should not be overly focused on liquid assets as the opportunity cost of that liquidity could be high. This is the case even if […]

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UBP, the Swiss pure play, is expanding its universe of European small cap active funds on the grounds that the asset class will “benefit the most” from the region’s cyclical domestic growth. “In terms of European equities, we’re adding to fund strategies which either have exposure to mid/small caps disproportionately or those which have a formal mid/small cap focus,” Aman Dhingra, […]

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Half of Goldman Sachs Asset Management’s (GSAM) net cross-border mutual fund inflows year-to-date have gone into actively managed equity strategies, of which a “significant proportion” have come from Asian private clients. As of the end of August, the asset manager has seen US$8.1 billion in net sales of actively management mutual funds, with actively managed equity products accounting for US$4.0 […]

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UBP’s CIO tells Asian Private Banker that while the bank is overweight both Japanese and European equities, it believes that the Japanese market is presenting passive investing opportunities, while its favoured sectors in Europe are best accessed through active strategies. “Looking for exposure that matches the ideas and the themes that we like is really important when we think of […]

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Since markets are now less concerned about political risks in Europe, where both hard and soft economic data has been strong over the past few months, wealthy Asian investors could shift more attention to European equities, according to Allianz Global Investors. “Investing in European equity should be a nice position,” says Neil Dwane, managing director and global strategist at Allianz […]

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As many as 38% of Hong Kong’s HNWIs plan to hold more cash in light of market uncertainty, according to UBS’ Investor Watch report, though the bank urges clients to avoid high cash allocations since global inflation is trending upwards. “In the current environment, holding [excessive] cash is perhaps not a good idea,” Louisa Fok, equity analyst at UBS Wealth […]

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The J.P. Morgan investor confidence index for Hong Kong remained stable at 113 points in the first quarter of 2017, as rising confidence in the Hong Kong market was tempered by concerns about the global economy. Five of the six sub-indices stayed flat or showed improvements, including the Hang Seng index, ‘economic environment’ , ‘investment environment and atmosphere’ and ‘value […]

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Many Asian investors are becoming jittery about Europe and are shying away from the market, though Swiss asset manager GAM believes it is prime time to invest in the junior subordinated debts of investment-grade companies in Europe’s financial sector. “If you look into individual corporates that are based in the EU but have a global presence, they would not be affected […]

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Even as political events and investor worries over the lack of a sustained recovery in corporate earnings challenge the European economic outlook, Lee Freeman-Shor, fund manager at Old Mutual Global Investors (OMGI), is of the view that there are always opportunities to be had – particularly in European equities. “You have so many choices to pick from,” Freeman-Shor tells APB Mandate, while warning […]

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GF International Asset Management has become the first Chinese-owned investment manager to open in London, and aims to expand money flows between Europe and China. This no doubt increases two-way investment flow between the two regions, say market watchers, particularly for Chinese products among European HNW investors and private banks. GF International is a subsidiary of GF Fund Management (GFFM), one of China’s […]

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“As Hong Kong becomes more heavily influenced by China’s communist regime, wealthy Chinese are beginning to look to park their families and assets elsewhere,” says an industry source, echoing the sentiments of several private bankers on Mainland teams. “The biggest benefactor of these outflows will be the US. And who will be the winners of private banking?” the source continues, […]

The post Heard on the street: Chinese HNWs alarmed by communist perception of Hong Kong, turn to the US appeared first on Asian Private Banker.

Asia’s exchange traded product (ETP) industry has attracted net inflows of US$21 billion in the year to date and private banks in the region have become increasingly significant consumers of these products. “Discretionary portfolio managers at private banks are now increasingly looking at ETFs to gain exposure to single countries as recent research is showing that the alpha that can […]

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