Arkey, who set up Hong Kong Asset Management in 1992, takes on the role of executive director and he will sit on Capstone’s investment committee at the financial planning and wealth management company headquarters in Hong Kong.
Ryan Dodgson, former owner of Premium Financial Group in Shanghai, has also come on board to further strengthen the investment committee with the overall aim of providing a more wide-ranging and proactive set of services to clients.
Arkey said: “There are big changes afoot here and not before time really. I have advocated changes in this direction for years in the hope it would clear out the usual riff-raff. That may well happen soon as legislation is enacted to kill off the rogue sales personnel next year.”
He will also oversee the opening of a Penang office, to complement Capstone’s existing presence in Kuala Lumpur, which both sit in the region along with a further office in Shanghai.
Capstone managing director David Halley said: “The GN15 writing has been on the wall for some time. We have focused from the beginning on protection, lump sums and shorter term ILAS plans, such as five year Generali Vision, while most of the market has maintained the typical (and soon to be antiquated) long term focus on regular savings.”
Halley added that the company’s remuneration strategy had always been designed to create a long term view in their advisers, with a blend of recurring income through ongoing fee paying services and commissions.
The larger well capitalised firms will thrive by utilizing both the Securities and Futures Commission and new Insurance Authority framework to ensure that clients are no longer subject to the typical ‘one size fits all’ method of advising, he said.
He also predicted that fund platforms are likely to become more prevalent, highlighting the value of working with a firm licensed by the SFC.
Yesterday, Standard Life closed its two regular savings plans to new business as it prepares to introduce new products in light of the indemnity commission ban in Hong Kong.
In late July, plans were announced by the Office of the Commissioner of Insurance, part of the Insurance Authority, to ban the payment of indemnity commission to advisers selling investment linked assurance schemes in Hong Kong.
