Swiss-Asia Financial Services has announced the launch of its first cryptocurrency fund, in Singapore. The Kryptos Alpha Fund is an absolute return cryptocurrency hedge fund aiming to maximize returns while minimizing drawdowns. The fund will be managed by Zhuang Sheng Quan, co-founder of Kryptos Associates, a company specializing in providing technology solutions for cryptocurrency trading. […]
Nexus Group is to close its Singapore office as part of a strategic shift back onto its core Middle East business. According to reports, Nexus Financial Services, the Asian arm of UAE-headquartered Nexus Group, expects to close its Singapore operations later this year. Nexus Group, with its Nexus Insurance Brokers brand in the Middle East, […]
The city-state of Singapore has become the latest jurisdiction to unveil plans aimed at requiring companies to prioritise the hiring of local workers over expatriates, after a government minister on Monday announced changes to an existing pro-local hiring regime known as the Fair Consideration Framework. In a speech to Singapore’s Parliament, Manpower Minister Lim Swee […]
Hawksford Hawksford, the Jersey-based trust, private client and corporate and fund services provider, has named Irene Lee director of private client and corporate business development in its Singapore office. Hawksford said the role was a newly-created one, and that its creation underscored the importance of Asia to its business, and its plans for growth. As […]
Ocorian, the Jersey-based trust, alternative investment, corporate and private client services business that rebranded from Bedell Trust in 2016, has completed its acquisition of MAS International, a fund administration and corporate services provider, after regulators in Luxembourg and Mauritius, where it is based, approved the deal. In a statement, Ocorian said the acquisition represented “a significant […]
Clients in Singapore’s UOB Asset Management (UOBAM) can submit their financial information, obtain risk profile, and receive an investment portfolio proposal ‘in minutes’ via a new digital advisory service. UOBAM said in a statement that it has launched its own digital advisory service UOBAM Invest that bids to allow companies to manage their discretionary investments […]
BlackRock US asset manager BlackRock has named Deborah Ho to head up its Southeast Asian business, with effect from March. She will succeed Kevin Hardy, who is leaving the company. Ho comes to BlackRock from Barclays Bank, where she has been managing director and co-head of senior relationship management, overseeing the firm’s “platinum” client relationships […]
St. James’s Place Wealth Management Asia has hired two long-time Fry Group executives, Miles Gooseman and Martin Rimmer, as the UK-based, FTSE 100 wealth manager continues to grow its Singapore outpost. Gooseman (pictured right, above) and Rimmer (pictured left) have more than 30 years of combined experience in the financial planning and wealth management sector, […]
Zurich Life Insurance (Singapore) said on Monday that it will sell its remaining Singapore life insurance portfolio to Singapore Life Pte, which calls itself “Singapore’s newest life insurer”, and which only received its insurance licence to operate in the jurisdiction in June. The price Singapore Life is paying for the portfolio and other financial details […]
The Fry Group has announced that Gary Smithson has joined its team of advisers as Financial Planning Consultant. Smithson, pictured left, joins the company’s Singapore offices following 11 years at International Financial Services bringing nearly 20 years’ experience of retirement, tax and pension planning, in both the UK and Singapore David Pugh, director, The Fry Group Singapore, […]
A cafe in Singapore has the distinction of the being the city-state’s first completely cashless outlet, and allows customers to pay in bitcoin as well as credit and debit cards. Ducatus Cafe is wholly owned by a cryptocurrency firm of the same name, and naturally allows customers to pay using its own Ducatus currency, as […]
The insurance channel represents a “growing force” in mutual fund distribution in Asia ex-Japan, with assets under management (AUM) rising over the past few years to an estimated US$113.7bn by end-2016, representing 5.9% of the total, according to a new report. According to global research and consulting firm Cerulli Associates, these assets posted a compound […]