The Chicago-based firm announced two senior appointments it made earlier this year to drive the development of its expanded asset management capabilities in Hong Kong. Patrick Dwyer joined as senior portfolio manager in the global index equity team. Dwyer will be responsible for the management of international index portfolios. He transferred from Northern Trust’s Chicago office in March and has been involved in setting up the portfolio management capability and hiring.

Craig Annakin joined Northern Trust as head of Asian dealing, responsible for setting up the new Asian dealing desk. Annakin joined Northern Trust in May from Deutsche Asset Management in Singapore, where he headed up operations for the Asia region’s dealing desks.

The expansion plans were granted by a Type 9 license this week by the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission.

“This is a positive step in our continued expansion in the Asia-Pacific region and in line with our strategy to bring our people and services closer to our clients around the world,” said Kevin Hardy, managing director of asset management in Asia-Pacific and country head for Northern Trust in Hong Kong.

“The addition of not only index equity portfolio management capability but also an Asian dealing desk to our Hong Kong office continues our development of a sustainable and scalable global model for asset management, serving Northern Trust clients in every geographic region," he added.

US Turns East

Following growth plans announced by Citi, BofA and JP Morgan, Northern Trust's move is the latest by a US bank to expand in Asia, where the population of millionaires this year overtook that in Europe, according to the Merrill Lynch and Capgemini World Wealth Report.

According to a survey by The American Chamber of Commerce in Singapore last week, 85 per cent of US firms plan to expand their business in Southeast Asia to tap the region's burgeoning growth, and not a single company plans to contract.

“While US businesses generally continue to favorably view the business outlook in ASEAN, the ASEAN Business Outlook Survey did find that rising costs and corruption are some factors to watch out for,” said Simon Kahn, Chairman of AmCham Singapore.

“ASEAN continues to grow in importance for businesses in the region,” he added.