The European group is opening in Singapore as part of a drive into the Asian market.

Allfunds Bank , which is based in Europe, is setting up an Asian operational hub in Singapore to service local business as well as those in Hong Kong and Taiwan. The hub starts operations in 2017.

The hub will also pursue other opportunities across Asia, Allfunds Bank, which is part of Allfunds Group, said in a statement yesterday. (Affunds Group was created in 2000 and is owned in equal parts by the Santander and Intesa Sanpaolo groups.)

The entry into Asia happened after the firm asked David Pérez de Albéniz (now head of Allfunds Bank in Singapore) to explore the Asian market in 2014

“We have identified the key differences between the various countries and territories in Asia – as in Europe they are all different with different requirements. But having gone deeply into the needs of the funds industry in the area, it became very clear, that our highly efficient open architecture model would suit most of Asian markets, so we see no reason to limit our ambitions in the area,” Allfunds CEO, Juan Alcaraz, said.

“Asia will massively contribute to the future definition of the global asset management industry due to its economic and demographic significance, and its accelerated digitalisation pace. China is, and definitely will be in the coming future, a significant contributor to these trends due to its relevance and magnitude in the global economy. We want to become global and entering Asian markets is a natural and resolute step for us,” he continued. 

The Allfunds platform allows distributors to open accounts, transact funds for end-clients and have a workstation where they can put out confirmations, corporate actions and other matters related to middle and back office operations involving the funds business. The organisation said it is not a funds supermarket in the “classic sense” but works with clients who identify the funds they want once regulatory restrictions and the risk appetite have been considered, only then are the relevant funds made available.

As far as Allfunds Bank is concerned, it has more than €249 billion (around $258 billion) assets under administration and offers close to 50,000 funds from 550 fund managers. Allfunds Bank has a local presence in Spain, Italy, UK, Chile, UAE, Switzerland, Colombia, Luxembourg and Singapore and has more than 500 institutional clients, including commercial banks, private banks, insurance companies, fund managers, financial supermarkets, international brokers, and specialist firms from 38 different countries.