Numerous are the financial places that try to attract non-European asset managers seeking to make business in Europe in the context of Brexit.
Irish Funds, the representative body for the cross-border investment funds industry in Ireland, has launched ‘Ireland: A guidebook for Chinese asset managers’ in partnership with the Asset Management Association of China (AMAC).
The guidebook consists of a set of resources to support inbound investment and the establishment of European fund presences in Ireland for Chinese managers.
The guide has been released while Ireland welcomed the first-ever visit by an industry delegation from China, which includes managers such as Haitong Securities, China Asset Management, China Southern Asset Management and GF Asset Management. Some of the companies quoted have already had offices in London.
But so far, Brexit seems to have not altered the business operations of Asian-based managers in Europe whether they have subsidiaries in the British capital or not.
Having its European headquarters established in London, China Post Global says to InvestmentEurope that from an operational standpoint, a Brexit does not really affect the manager.
Evie Lamprou, head of Distribution, Europe at China Post Global, argues China Post Global’s ETFs are domiciled in Luxembourg and distributed in several countries across Europe, including the UK.
“In some ways it has helped us, as the uncertainty around Brexit has certainly been a factor in some of the safe-haven investing into our gold mining ETF which has seen significant inflows since the vote,” she says.
Japanese asset manager Tokio Marine AM has also established itself in London for European business.
Yasuyuki Kanda, chief executive officer and chief investment officer of Tokio Marine’s London branch says that Brexit is not altering the firm’s plans.
“Our commitment to serve European investors will not change because of external factors such as this,” adds Kanda.
Turbulence ahead ?
Barkley Lim, head of Global Marketing, Institutional Business Division at Korean firm KB Asset Management says a short answer to the question of seeing the company’s European business plans impacted by Brexit is no.
KBAM targets primarily investors who already have allocations to Korean equities within the emerging markets exposure of their portfolios.
“Although Brexit was somewhat unexpected and the initial impact to the financial markets was quite large, we’ve seen that the markets have regained their composure quickly and that the lasting impact of Brexit is yet to be defined.
“When we speak of KBAM’s business in Europe, we haven’t seen any impact Brexit has had on us, our main targets are already focused on emerging market fund managers.
“Korea’s level of trade with Great Britain is quite small compared to our other trading partners across the globe and as such our economy doesn’t seem like it would have a direct negative impact that should be of top concern.
“However, as the details of Great Britain’s exit from the EU become more defined, we do expect some turbulence in the global markets ahead which might affect investors’ appetite towards a relatively small export-heavy country such as Korea,” pinpoints Lim.
He adds that as investing entities might be moving out of England to other European countries, this will affect KBAM’s marketing regional coverage.
“England has always been a large target marketing region, but that status might undergo some shrinkage in the future,” Lim says.
