Wealth management industry consultancy firm Tria Investment Partners has moved its Asian operations from Singapore to Hong Kong.
Tria managing partner Andrew Baker said Hong Kong was increasingly becoming the preferred location for asset management activity in the region and was also a gateway to the emerging Chinese wealth management market.
"We already have several important clients in Hong Kong and with our new regional presence we can now better support clients' efforts in Asia, as well as Australia and Europe," Baker said.
Tria's initial focus will include research and strategy development for Asian wealth markets and high-impact implementation projects.
"We will be progressively covering both the established markets such as Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore, and the newer markets such as China, Korea and Indonesia," Baker said.
"Asian wealth management is competitively tough with few low-hanging fruit.
"The market is fragmented and developing a profitable business model can be challenging.
"There are no quick wins, but the outlook is steadily improving as Asia becomes an important and more outward looking institutional market and, in particular, one of the fastest growing markets for retail funds."
Earlier this week, Westpac-owned Ascalon Capital Managers appointed Chuak Chan to establish the boutique fund manager incubator's Asian operations out of Hong Kong.
Ascalon was looking to Asia for expansion in order to source potential new investments in boutique managers and accelerate growth in the offshore investor base of current boutique partners, Ascalon chief executive Andrew Landman said.
