Asset Management
Western Hedge Fund Houses In China Shed Jobs Amid Chilly Markets – Report
While China has widened capital markets access to foreign players in recent years, the story might suggest that gaining a foothold in the local market is proving difficult, made more so by falls in Chinese equities in the past two years.
Eastspring
Investments and Barings have shed jobs at
their China hedge fund operations, Bloomberg reported on
4 December.
The newswire said the global asset managers will find it
difficult to break into the RMB6 trillion ($840 billion)
local market.
At least seven people – almost a third of the onshore team
– have left Eastspring, Prudential Plc’s asset management
arm, the report said, citing unnamed sources.
Barings, the unit of Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance, with
$347 billion under management, has also cut its team under its
domestic private fund management licence, the report said, also
citing the unnamed sources.
Barings declined to comment on whether there have been job
departures. A spokesperson added: “Barings’ commitment to China,
including both PFM and QDLP business, remains unchanged. We have
been identifying various investment strategies to satisfy the
needs of both onshore and offshore clients.
“In addition to four QDLP products launched since 2019, Barings
has been actively and continuously engaged in cross-border
investments in mainland China for over a decade, including
Qualified Domestic Institutional Investors (QDII), Qualified
Foreign Institutional Investors (QFII), RMB Foreign Institutional
Investors (RQFII), and Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect. During
this time, we have also gained experience in local investment
management and onshore product issuance.
This demonstrates our continued dedication to China,”
the firm added.
Eastspring had not responded to WealthBriefingAsia’s
request for comment at the time of going to press.
Chinese authorities have widened foreign investor access to its
capital markets in recent years, a fact that in a way is counter
to the narrative of cooling relations between China and the West
over trade and geopolitical disputes.
