Manulife Asset Management expands asset allocation service in Asia by creating a new senior position in Hong Kong.

Manulife Asset Management, the asset management arm of Canadian financial services group Manulife Financial, has created a new senior role within its asset allocation unit in response to the growing importance of multi-asset investment strategies internationally.

Michelle Ng is now the new managing director and portfolio specialist responsible for asset allocation strategies based in Hong Kong. Ng brings almost 15 years of industry experience to the role, including eight years in the investments advisory industry and seven years as an actuarial analyst. She joins from Mercer Investments and previously worked with Watson Wyatt Hong Kong, Mercer Human Resources Consulting and Watson Wyatt Australia.

"[Ng] joins us at a time when rapid demographic shifts in Asia and developed western markets and the lingering impact of the global financial crisis are changing the investment landscape, raising the need for new ways to structure portfolios to deliver potentially attractive returns with a desirable risk profile," said James Chen, head of institutional business and relationship management, international.

Ng reports locally to Chen and functionally to Jeffrey Santerre, senior managing director and global head of the portfolio specialist team based in Boston.

Manulife AM expanded its asset allocation coverage internationally in 2012, when the global portfolio solutions group appointed a head of asset allocation for Asia in Hong Kong. The team was expanded further in 2013, along with the launch of a dynamic asset allocation retail product in Taiwan. As at 30 September 2013, the PSG manages some $108 billion in assets, including $5 billion managed out of Asia.