Vanguard Group, the world's largest mutual fund manager, confirmed this morning it will be closing its Hong Kong operations and opening a new regional office in Shanghai.
In a statement the company said a "review has now led us to the conclusion to wind down our Hong Kong operation, which primarily serves institutional clients, and not the individual investors that are our primary strategic focus."
The decision to leave Hong Kong comes just two months after Beijing introduced its national security law on the territory. Yet the move to a Shanghai-based Asian headquarters is also indicative of the newly-opened Chinese financial services market. Retail funds in China are expected to be worth $3.4trn by 2023, according to Bloomberg.
The statement continued, "Unfortunately, from a distribution business standpoint, the current industry dynamics are better suited to institutional investors and do not currently support the scale needed for us to operate."
Vanguard said it was also exiting its Hong Kong exchange-traded funds.
The companny posted $5.7trn in assets at the end of April, and has more than 30 million investors around the world.
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by Tanya at http://www.ifajobs.net
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