Manulife Asset Management has hired a managing director and head of product development for Asia, from UK investment manager Barclays Global Investors.

Based in Hong Kong, Elka Leung started with the company this June and reports to Lucas Pontillo, head of finance and business development, Asia. 


Leung has 12 years of product development and positioning experience, starting her career in Canada before moving to Hong Kong, where most recently she was vice president, product development for Barclays Global Investors. 


The Canadian asset manager has been making aggressive strides in Asia. It recently expanded its global asset allocation arm, the portfolio solutions group, into Asia. It introduced the first-ever Asia Pacific bond product into Hong Kong’s Mandatory Provident Fund this May. Manulife also introduced the first-of-its-kind so-called "dim sum" bond funds in Taiwan last year, opening up the CNH market to retail investors there.

 “This reflects the need for more investment solutions that help Asian investors meet an ever-widening range of income and total return needs through strategic and tactical asset allocation,” said Pontillo.

A report released by the company earlier in the month titled ‘Saving up: The changing shape of retirement funding in a greying ASEAN’ showed that ASEAN countries, which are generally thought of as being ‘youthful’, can expect a rapid demographic shift and see a tripling in the percentage of their pensioner population in less then 40 years.

This will make the need for retirement funding in these countries more pressing than ever. The study concluded that the stage is set for alternative savings mechanisms, such as mutual funds and insurance products, to grow significantly in the coming years, as ever greater numbers of pre-retirees seek to complement their existing formal pensions with additional savings and investment vehicles.

Pontillo continued “The team is also part of Manulife Asset Management's global product development function and will leverage this expertise, in such areas as public pension programs and private retirement solutions, to bring forth global product solutions to Asian investors.”

Locally Manulife manages more than $5 billion in global asset allocation assets for Hong Kong’s Mandatory Provident Fund and other pension schemes. As at end March 2012, assets under management of the global firm were $220 billion.