HSBC Global Asset Management Taiwan Ltd (匯豐中華投信) is to grow local operations by expanding its management team and launching new funds by the end of this year, chief executive officer Chiao Hsin (焦訢) told a news conference in Taipei yesterday.
The asset management company has about 80 employees, and it would add five senior managers who would be in charge of portfolios and projects, Chiao said.
“The positions would be offered to local talent. We are already interviewing some candidates. It is possible that the positions would be filled in the third quarter,” Chiao said.
Photo: CNA
While it is uncommon for local asset management companies to expand their senior management teams, HSBC Global Asset Taiwan has been committed to deepening its local operations, she said.
The company would also ask for more resources from its parent company to enhance staff training, investment research, risk controls and product design to boost business in the local fund market, Chiao said.
“We have discussed with our overseas investment team the design of a new onshore fund that we plan to launch by the end of this year. We can bring a global perspective in fund design, as HSBC is an international group,” Chiao said.
The company would factor in rate hikes and inflation when it chooses investment targets, as both are expected to persist over the next few years, Chiao said.
The new fund would also have environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) factors, and would comply with tighter rules that were announced by regulators in January, Chiao said.
While regulators have not specified the types of companies in which ESG-themed funds must not invest, HSBC Global Asset Taiwan would not invest in companies that make tobacco products or alcoholic beverages, or run gambling operations, she said.
“Besides those companies, we will not specifically select industries, as a company in an energy-consuming field could still perform well in ESG,” Chiao said.
MORE RESISTANT
ESG funds are more resistant to risks than other types of funds, as the companies that are chosen by such funds usually have two properties — great scale of operations and good cash flow, Chiao said.
The company has introduced 23 offshore funds to local investors, all of which meet the European Supervisory Authorities’ Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulations, Chiao said.
Eight of the funds conform with Article 8 of the regulations, as the companies they invest follow good governance practices and can be called “light green funds,” she said.
‘DECENT RESULTS’: The company said it is confident thanks to an improving world economy and uptakes in new wireless and AI technologies, despite US uncertainty Pegatron Corp (和碩) yesterday said it plans to build a new server manufacturing factory in the US this year to address US President Donald Trump’s new tariff policy. That would be the second server production base for Pegatron in addition to the existing facilities in Taoyuan, the iPhone assembler said. Servers are one of the new businesses Pegatron has explored in recent years to develop a more balanced product lineup. “We aim to provide our services from a location in the vicinity of our customers,” Pegatron president and chief executive officer Gary Cheng (鄭光治) told an online earnings conference yesterday. “We
It was late morning and steam was rising from water tanks atop the colorful, but opaque-windowed, “soapland” sex parlors in a historic Tokyo red-light district. Walking through the narrow streets, camera in hand, was Beniko — a former sex worker who is trying to capture the spirit of the area once known as Yoshiwara through photography. “People often talk about this neighborhood having a ‘bad history,’” said Beniko, who goes by her nickname. “But the truth is that through the years people have lived here, made a life here, sometimes struggled to survive. I want to share that reality.” In its mid-17th to
‘MAKE OR BREAK’: Nvidia shares remain down more than 9 percent, but investors are hoping CEO Jensen Huang’s speech can stave off fears that the sales boom is peaking Shares in Nvidia Corp’s Taiwanese suppliers mostly closed higher yesterday on hopes that the US artificial intelligence (AI) chip designer would showcase next-generation technologies at its annual AI conference slated to open later in the day. The GPU Technology Conference (GTC) in California is to feature developers, engineers, researchers, inventors and information technology professionals, and would focus on AI, computer graphics, data science, machine learning and autonomous machines. The event comes at a make-or-break moment for the firm, as it heads into the next few quarters, with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s (黃仁勳) keynote speech today seen as having the ability to
The battle for artificial intelligence supremacy hinges on microchips, but the semiconductor sector that produces them has a dirty secret: It is a major source of chemicals linked to cancer and other health problems. Global chip sales surged more than 19 percent to about US$628 billion last year, according to the Semiconductor Industry Association, which forecasts double-digit growth again this year. That is adding urgency to reducing the effects of “forever chemicals” — which are also used to make firefighting foam, nonstick pans, raincoats and other everyday items — as are regulators in the US and Europe who are beginning to