Asia hedge funds hiring but recruitment slows
25th September 2020
Hedge funds in Asia are hiring amid Covid-19 pressures. But a typical recruitment process – which previously took three to six months – could well stretch to a year, experts believe.
Close to half, or 45% of hedge funds in Hong Kong hired in the first seven months of 2020, a new report by KPMG and the Alternative Investment Management Association (AIMA) found. The figure for the broader Asia Pacific region was 35%, according to the report quizzing 144 hedge fund managers globally with an estimated $840bn in assets under management. Some 17% of respondents were headquartered in the Asia Pacific region, with 11% being in Hong Kong.
While the report didn’t give a breakdown for Singapore, Principle Partners’ Gabriel Lee spotted a similar trend among managers in the city-state.
Annabelle Liang
Citywire Asia
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Navigating the New Normal – A Recruiter’s Perspective
28th May 2020
What is the New Normal? Working from home (WFH), social distancing and virtual collaborations have become commonplace during this period. As several medical experts have suggested, this New Normal is expected to continue for as long as two years.
We would like to share our perspectives and observations from a recruitment angle and how candidates and hiring managers can better navigate this challenging environment.
Gabriel Lee
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What senior execs can learn from young recruits
7th August 2019
Reverse mentoring, whereby senior professionals seek opportunities to learn from their junior colleagues, could be described as the corporate enactment of teaching old dogs new tricks.
Some believe it is an effective way of ensuring that fresh ideas and new technological approaches can flourish in the traditionally conservative asset management industry.
It was in 1999 when Jack Welch, the former CEO of General Electric, first promoted the concept of reverse mentoring, by switching up the usual top-down approach by allowing younger members of the workforce to coach the more senior-level executives about newly introduced technology and manufacturing techniques.
Ultimately, reverse mentoring is a two-way street, according to Will Tan, Singapore-based managing director at recruitment firm Principle Partners.
Each generation may have different priorities growing up, but it is from these differences that people can learn more about how to work together, and this in turn could translate to better teamwork and ultimately form a more cohesive team, says Tan.
Ysrael Dumasig
Ignites Asia
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Asia Hedge Fund Firm Offers to Insure First 10% of Losses
29th April 2019
A new entrant to Asia’s hedge fund market is offering to insure investors against the first 10 percent of their losses.
Bei Hu
Bloomberg
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Asia fund execs to get lower bonuses this year: recruiters
6th December 2018
Fund executives in Asia should expect a drop in bonus payouts after a tough second half of 2018, with some firms having already implemented initial cost-cutting measures, recruiters say.
Ysrael Dumasig, Kylie Wong
Ignites Asia
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Firms Hunt for Tech Talent Amid Short Supply in Asia
16th May 2018
New business priorities are throwing up fresh challenges for companies to ensure they have the right people and skills.
Wong Wei Han
Ignites Asia
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China, Alternatives Top of Firms' Hiring Plans in 2018
3rd January 2018
Fintech's incremental changes' impact on asset management companies' hiring plans hasn't been that big.
Ysrael Dumasig
Ignites Asia
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Abundant wealth management roles entice Asia's fund execs
23th September 2020
More investment professionals in Asia are switching to a growing number of opportunities in the region’s rapidly expanding wealth management space, lured by the appeal of longer-term job stability and more time interacting directly with clients.
Will Tan, Managing Director at Principle Partners, says there has been increased hiring in middle and back-office roles for wealth management firms in Singapore too, specifically in risk management compliance and operations functions. The surge of the growth in job opportunities has also come as more individual investors are looking to move funds or open accounts in the city-state, Tan says.
Hong Kong-headquartered Raffles Family Office has in the past couple of years poached two senior portfolio managers from asset managers. The firm usually tries to hire people from the buy-side sector as it needs executives to run its own top-down strategies.
In 2019, it hired Derek Loh as head of equities and senior portfolio manager from ACA Capital Group, his LinkedIn profile says. In 2018, it appointed Lawrence Chan as head of fixed income from Taiping Asset Management, where he was chief investment officer for fixed income, according to his LinkedIn profile.
Founded in 2016 in Hong Kong, the multi-family office offers wealth management, wealth preservation, and legacy planning solutions to UHNWIs and families in Asia
Ysrael Dumasig
Ignites Asia
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Hedge funds fight for Asia talent by boosting bonuses, training
29th October 2019
Compensation packages in Asia are increasing as hedge funds pay up to attract top candidates, people familiar with the industry said. In-demand managers can now secure more attractive terms for the performance component of their pay, which typically accounts for the bulk of their remuneration and is expressed as a percentage of the profits generated by their investments.
One person who’s worked in the hedge fund industry for more than a decade said he’s aware of recent bonus payouts in Asia of 25% of profits, up from 23% a few years ago, while noting that there can be significant variation across the industry.
Top portfolio managers in Asia can take home $15 million to $20 million a year once performance bonuses are included, while junior portfolio managers can command $2 million to $3 million, people familiar with the matter said.
Compensation in the region is still likely lower than in Europe and the U.S., but that’s because Asia-based portfolio managers typically oversee fewer assets, said Will Tan, a managing director at recruitment firm Principle Partners Pte. In the U.S., star managers at big funds can make north of $50 million in a good year, Tan said.
Bei Hu
Bloomberg
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Political unrest pushing fund execs to seek HK exit
29th July 2019
With the prolonged political unrest in Hong Kong becoming more violent and unpredictable, some concerned fund professionals from the territory are looking for opportunities elsewhere, recruitment experts say.
Following six weeks of widespread demonstrations, pro-democracy protesters and innocent passers-by were attacked by thugs, suspected of being triad gang members in Hong Kong’s northern district Yuen Long on July 21. Confrontations between police and protesters continued in the suburb and other parts of Hong Kong on Sunday.
In response to the violent attacks, Bernard Chan, a top advisor of Hong Kong CEO, Carrie Lam, said the government was unable to offer a “personal assurance” to international companies that their staff were safe as “things are evolving so fast” and polices resources were overstretched.
Even though top executives at fund houses in Hong Kong told Ignites Asia earlier this month that the political turmoil had not shaken their businesses at a boardroom level, it appears some individuals in the industry are starting to act on their worries about their safety and the future prospects of the territory.
Two Hong Kong-based fund professionals took new offers for positions based in Singapore last week, just a couple of days after the attacks in Yuen Long, according to Will Tan, Singapore-based managing partner at executive search firm Principle Partners.
One of the executives, who is from the mainland, accepted the new job because he feels Singapore is probably better for him and his family. The other was convinced to make the move by his Singapore-based family, who were worried about his safety.
For these two candidates, the “last straw” was the indiscriminate attacks at the train station in Yuen Long, Tan says.
Many candidates looking for new positions have cited the ongoing political unrest in Hong Kong as “disruptive” to their jobs and say they have concerns about the safety of their families. “You can call it fear, or the constant worry about safety. It’s going to take a toll,” Tan says.
One senior executive who lives in Yuen Long and works in Hong Kong’s central business district at an asset management company tells Ignites Asia that he returned home early from work around 3 p.m. on Monday last week for fear of repeated violence against residents in the area.
The executive also cancelled his trip to Shanghai on Friday as he was afraid of delays caused by protests at Hong Kong’s airport at the end of last week.
While Hong Kong in many respects is still a very safe place to live, the rising political tensions and recent violent skirmishes are “always at the back of your mind”, Tan says. “How do you continue to work if you’re worried about your kid and wife?” he adds.
Selena Li
Ignites Asia
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A Long-Lost Asia Hedge Fund Hub Is Emerging From the Shadows
3rd April 2019
“We’re seeing the re-emergence of Tokyo as a center for Japan-focused funds,” said Dan McNicholas, the global head of capital introductions at Nomura. “The main draw has been the government’s push to encourage boutique asset managers to set up there. Another is funds’ ability to raise money locally to pursue domestic investment opportunities.”
Bei Hu and Komaki Ito
Bloomberg
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Bridging the communication divide across time zones
5th December 2018
Maintaining effective internal communications is often the cornerstone of success for companies. But this can turn complicated for large organisations with offices in multiple geographies.
Wong Wei Han
Ignites Asia
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Can Unlimited Leave give Asia's Fund Execs a Break?
7th March 2018
Unlimited vacation policies have more commonly been associated with technology companies.
Ysrael Dumasig
Ignites Asia
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30+ Bankers Scrambling for each Private Equity Job in Singapore
20th June 2017
Larger players like KKR, Mizuho Asia Partners and Navis Capital Partners are set to hire in Singapore in the second half.
Simon Mortlock
eFinancial Careers
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This pandemic will change the way we work. These are the trends Principle Partners is seeing
26th June 2020
The coronavirus pandemic looks set to change the way people work, with an increasing number of roles able to be performed remotely going forward.
Will Tan, managing director of specialist recruitment firm Principle Partners, was already seeing a trend for employees to work from home before the virus struck.
He expects the pandemic to accelerate this shift, as growing numbers of companies see the benefits of remote working.
Principle Partners
eFinancial Careers
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Recruitment in Singapore’s financial services sector is picking up. These are the opportunities Principle Partners has identified
4th September 2019
Financial services firms in Singapore are recruiting again as they put concerns about the global economic outlook to one side.
Principle Partners
eFinancial Careers
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Asia sovereign wealth funds: Lifting the lid on Singapore’s GIC
7th May 2019
In a rare interview, chief executive Lim Chow Kiat explains the investment discipline that underpins one of the world’s most influential and sophisticated funds – and his fears over the impact of a polarized political world on global investment.
Chris Wright
Euromoney
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Singapore offers growing opportunities for financial services and technology talent
25th February 2019
Singapore’s burgeoning fintech sector and growing fund management industry is creating significant opportunities for talents in financial services.
Principle Partners
eFinancial Careers
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Talent Hunting: Missteps and Good Practices
11th July 2018
Human resource managers and recruitment experts say fund firms need to make changes and adopt a shorter and more detailed approach to get to know candidates better.
Ysrael Dumasig
Ignites Asia
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Private banks in Asia see another year of strong growth
22 Feb 2018
Private banks that cater to Asia's wealthy expect another robust year as the region's rapid growth continues to mint new millionaires while appetite for risk remains healthy.
Kevin Lim