Noah Holdings
Noah’s overseas assets under management reached Rmb24.8 billion ($3.49 billion) in 2019, some 14.6% of the company’s total AuM. Its net income from overseas also jumped, rising 25.4% last year to hit nearly Rmb1 billion. Its contribution to the company’s overall revenues rose by 5 percentage points, to 27.9% from 22.9%.
Noah Holdings’ network outside mainland China spans Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Melbourne, New York, Silicon Valley and Vancouver.
That is a crucial selling point to the firm’s 290,000 high net-worth clients, who regard Noah as one of the few local wealth managers able to bridge the offshore and onshore markets.
Noah, which is listed on the New York Stock Exchange, is the partner of choice for many premium global wealth managers when it comes to China-related business.
Noah, co-founded and still chaired by Wang Jingbo, has launched and managed more than 120 funds denominated in dollars. It maintains strategic partnerships with over 35 global fund managers, including the Blackstone Group, Carlyle Group and Oaktree Capital Management, while cooperating with nine of the world’s top 10 private equity funds.
The firm still sees room for expansion. In Australia, it secured an alliance with Voltaire Partners for family office business in 2018 and partnered with 140-year-old Marsh Advantage Insurance last year. That paved the way for Noah to launch wealth management and investment services for local Chinese HNW individuals and corporations, as well as providing insurance plans for both the families and their businesses.
Last year, Noah was awarded three licences in Canada, making it the country’s first fully licenced wealth management company with a Chinese parent.
The wealth manager’s overseas strength is also noticeable in its family trust business. Noah’s domestic Chinese trust business started in 2017, but it had already set up Ark Trust (HK) Co in December 2014, and in 2016 became the first Chinese firm to obtain a family trust licence in Jersey. To date, Noah has managed more than 230 family trusts inside and outside China.
Having secured a Capital Markets Services licence from the Monetary Authority of Singapore in March, it looks like the manager is well on the way to adding more value to Chinese HNW individuals for their growing overseas asset management needs.