11.07.2018 News

Supporting Luxembourgish fund distribution in Asia

 

Isabelle Alvarez, Managing Director, of Victor Buck Services Asia Pte Ltd, presents the subsidiary of Victor Buck Services S.A. in Singapore.Discover how we support the distribution in Asia of funds domiciled in Luxembourg. Interview with Andy.

CAN YOU PRESENT VBS’ ACTIVITIES IN ASIA?

Victor Buck Services Asia Pte Ltd. was created in 2008 by Victor Buck Services SA following clients’ requests to support their distribution of Luxembourg domiciled funds from Asia. From a time-to-market perspective, supporting those firms directly from Asia through the physical delivery of information/documents was an opportunity to meet clients ’needs and facilitate their cross-border distributions.
Singapore was chosen as the hub for Victor Buck Services APAC coverage. We provide an integrated solution from Asia, providing the full suite of Victor Buck Services’ solutions and platforms (e.g. customer communication, content and document outsourcing services which includes print and digital communication channels, digitization, e-archiving and more).
In response to our clients’ needs we also provide printing services from Birmingham, Hong Kong, Sydney, Melbourne and soon Taipei.
Our centralized digital platform provides all clients around the globe with the same high standards of quality and security.

HOW ARE YOUR CLIENTS’ NEEDS EVOLVING?

In terms of communication channels, there is a clear shift from print to digitised worldwide solutions. In the beginning the increase in digital channels was mostly related to emailing, but now the demand is more about API solutions. Nevertheless, printing has not disappeared and still has a very bright future. Paper and digital should not be viewed as rivals, but used to complement one another. The nature of print demand has evolved: regular print volumes are decreasing in favour of specific, customised high quality mailings.
 
On the other hand as regulations become tighter (outsourcing guidelines, GDPR, PDPA,…), demand for customer communication services has increased. This is unsurprising given our clients are responsible for the communication of such changes towards their investor base and stakeholders. For the same reasons, our clients increasingly express a need for assistance regarding compliance. We, therefore, provide them with the legal documentation they require (the OSPAR report in Singapore which respects the outsourcing guidelines in the Financial area).

WHICH PERSPECTIVES DO YOU IDENTIFY? (OPPORTUNITIES, THREATS,…) 

Overseas Luxemburg funds distribution is continuously increasing and Asia is an important growth area of the market with Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Korea and Japan all being in the top 10 of the investment fund markets outside Europe.
This expansion looks set to continue as other Asian financial markets begin to experience growth as well (Thailand, Vietnam and China for example).
Recent regulations have also helped the funds industry to bridge the gaps between certain markets, and some countries have also taken the initiative to begin developing their own products (e.g. S-VACC Singapore Variable Capital Company).
At the same time, a lot of local industries have started their digital transformation. This results in a very dynamic economic environment, highly attractive to multinationals. From Victor Buck Services’ perspective, such dynamism offers great opportunities to diversify both our client base and services offered.
The regulatory environment in Singapore is also very welcoming to foreign companies. Thus, the latest solutions we have developed in Luxembourg can easily be exported to Asia for further expansion.