HK funds for ASEAN

HK funds for ASEAN

SINGAPORE (AFP): HSBC Holdings plc's asset management arm has shifted from Hong Kong to Singapore the management responsibility for regional investment funds totaling S$1 billion (US$714.28 million), officials said yesterday.

The funds are invested in the rapidly growing economies of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) comprising Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand.

The transfer of the funds was to ensure that they were managed within the region where the fund managers made the investments, said Tommy Thompson, HSBC Asset Management chief executive for the Asia-Pacific region.

HSBC Asset Management, which handles more than US$30 billion worth of assets worldwide, is the global investment advisory and money management business division of Britain's HSBC Holdings.

The funds managed here from July 1 included the US$212 million Asian Newly Industrialized Countries (ANIC) Fund and the US$319.8 million ASEAN Fund, said Foo Pek Hong, general manager of HSBC Asset Management in Singapore.