Strong interpersonal skills key to position
Asset Management Fund Sales
The asset management industry in Hong Kong has been growing consistently with retail and institutional clients looking for long-term investment vehicles to balance their portfolios. Not all asset managers run their portfolios in Asia but many companies will have a sales office based in Hong Kong to sell funds to the Asia-Pacific region. With growth exceeding expectations in Asia, companies are looking to increase their market segment and to do this they need experienced sales professionals.
There is increasing demand for asset management sales professionals in the market. Salespeople are responsible for managing the sales relationship with their clients. These could be private banks, pension companies, retail banks or independent financial advisers. The main part of the role is promoting new or existing products to clients and then managing that relationship.
Sales managers can be country specific or regionally focused with teams being split up to manage different areas of the region. Candidates with strong exposure to China and fluent Putonghua will probably focus on Greater China and be based in Hong Kong.
English is the most important language for this role along with another regional language such as Korean, Malaysian, Thai or Indonesian.
Candidates most suitable for sales roles have strong interpersonal skills with the ability to form and sustain strong business relationships. Candidates must also possess passion and drive in a competitive environment.
Many candidates for sales roles come up through the ranks of investment managers and will often start their career in retail or institutional client services. After gaining the necessary life and business experience they will move into a frontline sales role. Candidates will have a bachelor's degree and sometimes also an MA or MBA.
Contributed by Mark Andrews, senior consultant of banking, Robert Walters Hong Kong
