Job losses loom as Vanguard closes HK, Japan operations

SHANGHAI: US asset manager Vanguard Group will close its Hong Kong and Japan operations and cut jobs across both cities as it shifts its Asian headquarters to Shanghai, it said on Wednesday. The global fund giant, with more than $5 trillion in assets under management, said in a statement its Hong Kong business mostly served institutional clients and not retail investors, which are its primary focus. Hong Kong is home to Vanguard's main office in Asia after the index fund giant closed its Singapore operation in 2018. It said the departure from the Asian financial hub would take between six months and two years.

Vanguard, which launched a wholly foreign-owned enterprise (WFOE) in China in May 2017, said the move would see it exit its Hong Kong ETF (exchange-traded fund), mandatory provident fund and index-tracking investment schemes businesses. The statement said an unspecified number of jobs would be lost as a result of the closure.