Beijing's drive to tax offshore income, which is prompting some wealthy Chinese to sell assets abroad, has not hit investor flows into J.P. Morgan's asset management division in Asia, according to its Singapore, Southeast Asia and India head.
"You may have things that happen that will affect those flows. But my general view is these are things that just may be a bump in the road, but the road continues," said Ayaz Ebrahim, J.P. Morgan Asset Management chief executive officer for Singapore, Southeast Asia and India, when asked about China's crackdown in an interview in Singapore.
"In terms of what we're seeing in terms of flows, it hasn't really impacted at all. Our flows have been decent and they continue to be decent," he said, without offering numbers.
Stockbrokers have cited the crackdown as a reason for falls in Hong Kong's equity market and in share prices for Singapore banks, which have been beneficiaries of deposits and cash flows from rich customers in China and Southeast Asia.
Some of China's richest people are winding down their offshore trusts, selling shares, and even switching nationality as a deadline looms to declare income booked overseas, say wealth advisers, lawyers and others familiar with the matter.
Ebrahim, who has nearly four decades in markets, said he asset manager was "clearly focusing" on Asia's wealth boom.
"Even if China's growing at 3 percent – it's creating a lot of money still.. I think this trend is here to stay. Definitely," he said.
He said the asset manager, which has US$4.6 trillion in assets under management according to its website, had recently opened a two-person trading desk in Singapore and that by the first quarter of next year, headcount would have expanded by 20 percent to 25 percent over the years since he moved to Singapore in April 2024.
Reuters
