Slendebroek, who took over from long standing CEO Edward Bonham-Carter in March this year, told International Adviser that Jupiter’s Hong Kong office reached “full battle strength” last December and that it has started to advertise in Hong Kong.
“I got a photo yesterday morning of Jupiter advertising on a tram stop in central Hong Kong. That’s really exciting for us. We are obviously a flea in the local market but that’s the way we are starting it.”
He has been to Hong Kong a number of times in the last five months to join the five strong team based there, led by Peter Swarbreck who joined Jupiter as head of Asia Pacific, client coverage group, in April last year from BlackRock.
The aim is to take on two more new hires for the Hong Kong office before the end of June, and there is also one person working out of Singapore.
Jupiter’s ‘battle’ plan has involved selecting 15 of the big financial institutions it already does business with in the UK , which also have operations in European countries such as Germany , Switzerland, and Austria as well as Hong Kong and Singapore.
“We have said to them ….why don’t we also do business with you in Switzerland, Germany, Hong Kong and Singapore. That is pushing on an open door in many cases. It’s not always that easy, because you have to register the fund, you have to go through the Hong Kong regulator or whatever it is, but it’s not impossible to do that.”
Slendebroek added that, as soon as the “big boys” start doing business, there are other client opportunities with medium-sized businesses getting the confidence to engage with Jupiter, and thinking “that’s an interesting name”.
Jupiter opened a Zurich office in March 2012, and more recently, in December last year, announced a partnership deal with Emirates NBD.
