British asset manager Schroders will continue to expand in Hong Kong to tap Asia-Pacific’s fast-growing wealth-management and pension businesses, as its top boss believes market uncertainty brought on by the US-China trade war will increase demand for its services.
“The tariff issues and trade challenges are going forward, but it would not affect our commitment and investment in Hong Kong, mainland China and Taiwan,” Richard Oldfield, the firm’s group chief executive, said in Hong Kong earlier this month.
“When we think about where wealth is growing the fastest, it is in Asia. When we think about ageing populations and the need across the region to prepare for retirement, it is also Asia.”
The city is central to the firm’s growth aspirations, he added.
“We are very supportive of the Hong Kong government’s initiatives to try and make Hong Kong a really attractive destination for high-net-worth individuals and for family offices,” he said.
Oldfield spent 30 years at PwC before joining Schroders in October 2023 as chief financial officer. He took up his current role in November, one week before visiting Hong Kong to attend the Global Financial Leaders’ Investment Summit organised by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority.
During the summit he said the company would create the Schroders Capital Infrastructure Asia group, with a team based in Hong Kong to focus on renewable-energy investment opportunities. Schroders already had several investment teams in the city focused on Asian equities and other assets.
The new Hong Kong team secured its first deal this month, with Apple committing to invest US$100 million in wind and solar projects in mainland China.
“As an international financial centre and a ‘superconnector’ to mainland China, Hong Kong is well positioned to develop as an investment centre for green infrastructure and renewable energy,” Oldfield said.
Schroders, established in London in 1804, set up its office in Hong Kong more than 50 years ago. It is one of the largest providers of retail funds, retirement investment funds in the city’s Mandatory Provident Fund scheme and other pension products.
The firm opened its first mainland China office 30 years ago, and it established a joint-venture fund company, BOCOM Schroder Fund Management, with Bank of Communications in 2005. It also created a wholly owned fund company, Schroder Fund Management (China), in 2023.
In Asia-Pacific, the firm had US$252.6 billion in assets under management in nine markets, representing 25 per cent of all assets managed by the group as of the end of last year.
“The improvement in the Chinese market in the first quarter has actually made China more appealing to certain clients, particularly to family offices and wealthy clients,” Oldfield said.
While the escalating trade war between the US and China had created global stock market turmoil this month, Oldfield said it would create opportunities for Schroders because the firm, as an active fund manager, picks stocks for customers.
“The fundamental research has never been more critical, because the impact of these tariffs will play out differently on a company-by-company perspective, depending upon supply chains [and] their export markets,” he said.
Future growth would be driven by the increasingly large affluent market, particularly in Asia, where a lot of high-net-worth individuals would need products for long-term savings, retirement and wealth transfer to next generations, he said.
“It is not just about creating Hong Kong and Asia products for international investors, but increasingly, we have seen wealthy Asian investors want exposure to broader global products,” he said.
“I am trying to steer this organisation through the choppy waters by being clear about where we are heading.”
