Published by Asia Asset Management – 20th Sep 2018
Manulife Asset Management (Hong Kong) Limited has appointed pension veteran Yvonne Sin as independent director in a move to boost its pension and asset management business in Asia.
Ms. Sin took up the role this month and will also join the board’s audit and risk, and conduct review committees, parent company Manulife Asset Management (Manulife) says in a statement on September 18.
Manulife is the global asset management arm of Canadian insurer Manulife Financial Corp.
Describing Ms. Sin as “one of the most knowledgeable experts on pension reforms” and “extremely well connected in Asia”, Michael Dommermuth, Manulife Financial’s Asia head of wealth and asset management, says in the statement that her appointment “is important to our goal of accelerating the growth of our pension and asset management businesses in the region”.
Ms. Sin has over 40 years of diversified experience working with various government and non-government organisations, including the World Bank and investment advisory firm Willis Towers Watson.
According to Mr. Dommermuth, her experience is also beneficial to Manulife’s China strategy, particularly since the company set up a subsidiary in Shanghai licensed as a wholly foreign-owned enterprise (WFOE), and signed a deal with the Agricultural Bank of China to explore business opportunities in the Mainland retirement market last year.
The WFOE qualification allows foreign asset managers to provide investment consultancy and fund management services to domestic investors in China.
Manulife had approximately C$516 billion (US$392 billion) of total assets under management at the end of June 2018.
