In part 1, we have explored the North Asia market. In this part, we will further explore opportunities in the Asian fund firms for the South East Asia market.
Singapore has, in the past few years, seen a steady stream of global managers set up shop. And it seems have not ever stopped during the pandemic. Throughout Q4, we see JPMorgan doubled Singapore private bankers, U.S. hedge fund D.E. Shaw in October last year said it is planning to grow its Asia-Pacific footprint with the opening of an office in Singapore this year. Asian fund firms looking to focus on hiring in Asia.
"Singapore is the first choice of the hub because of the ease of access, capabilities and platform,” said Andrew Zee, Selby Jennings vice president for investment management in Southeast Asia, at interview with Ignites Asia. “While companies leverage Hong Kong to expand to China, same for Singapore, companies want to use Singapore as another foothold for the next foundation before they open up into the rest of Southeast Asia.”
Hiring is Re-bouncing
In Singapore last year, especially from March to October, most asset managers shifted their focus in assessing their portfolios and businesses amid the pandemic, which inadvertently slowed down hiring. However, it started to re-bounce.
In 2020 alone, the Monetary Authority of Singapore approved more than 80 new licences. “We believe more licences will be approved in 2021,” said Zee. “We foresee more roles in the asset management space will be created due to a slew of fund management licences that are expected to be approved this year.”
Zee expects that much of the hiring will be focused on front-office and equities portfolio management roles.
UHNWIs are Coming to Singapore
“There is a huge possibility too that there are other ultra-high-net-worth investors and affluent families looking to set up a family office in Singapore,” said Zee. “Just like Dalio, many of them prefer not to announce it publicly.”
In Q4 2020, despite pandemic, DBS sees robust growth in the private banking business, led by family offices. We have also covered in December last year, billionaire tech tycoon James Dyson’s family office was hiring; billionaire Shu Ping opens family office in Singapore; multi-family offices Kamet Capital Partners was hiring during the middle part of this year; Hong Kong-based Raffles Family Office has expanded in Singapore as well.
The market is exciting and it will be busy for sure this year. “All these key names are just scratching the surface,” he adds.
To read the original interview, please visit Ignites Asia.
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