Fidelity International Fires HK Managers For Ethics Breach

Vanessa Doctor

25 February 2010

Fidelity International has fired two of its fund managers in Hong Kong for violating the internal code of ethics.

In a statement released 25 February, the financial services firm said that the managers were found that have put their personal interests ahead of those of the company. "Our routine checks discovered a pattern of behavior that breached our internal policies. Appropriate action has now been taken and they have left the organisation," a spokesperson for Fidelity said.

Fund managers Kevin Chang and Wilson Wong were suspended in January for alleged misconduct, which was then followed by an investigation. Fidelity did not give details on how both gentlemen breached the firm's code of ethics, although it clarified that it was not of criminal nature -- ruling out the possibility of insider trading.

Mr Chang was responsible for the money manager's institutional Southeast Asia fund and Asia-Pacific fund, while Mr Wong covered the Greater China fund and Asia Equity fund. Combined, they oversaw around $7.3 billion.

"We can confirm that our clients' funds have not been negatively impacted as a result of the breach and replacement managers have been put in place," the statement added.

"Fidelity has extremely strict policies and procedures and many go well beyond normal regulatory requirements. We expect the highest ethical standards from all of our portfolio managers and, in this case, these were not met."

Mr Chang's and Mr Wong's duties have been reassigned to the other members of the Asia Pacific investment team, which include Teera Chanpongsang, Martha Wang, and Joseph Tse.