ETF lunch briefing

Martin currently holds the position of Executive Director at Duality Management Pte Ltd, a single-family office based in Singapore. Prior to this, he played a pivotal role as the Director of Business Portfolio Management at Phillip Capital Management Ltd, partnering with the leadership team to foster business development and solidify institutional relationships. During his tenure there, he played a key role in the launch of 6 ETFs in Singapore.

Martin's professional foray into the financial world began in 1998 with Permodalan Nasional Berhad (PNB) in Malaysia. Subsequently, he transitioned to a prominent UK-based fund management company, taking up responsibilities as a Senior Vice President in charge of Far East business expansion. Martin's depth of experience includes sales team leadership across asset management, agency growth, fund platforms, and digital fund avenues. He holds a Bsc. Agri-business (Hons) from Universiti Putra Malaysia. Boasting over a quarter-century in the financial realm, Martin's insights into the Asian and ASEAN Fund Management Industry are profound.

Nirman is in-charge of financial portfolio management at Abiman Asset Management, a single family office located in Singapore. His responsibilities include asset allocation, security selection and risk management. He invests into single bonds, equities and commodities in a multi-asset context. His work is influenced by factor based investing and systematic approach to asset allocation and risk management. Prior to Abiman, he worked at Taurus Family office, a multi-family office. At Taurus, he advised and managed portfolios for high net-worth families in a multi-asset context. He also successfully managed an Emerging market credit fund which ranked in top 1% globally in terms of performance, among emerging market credit funds. Prior to Taurus, Nirman worked for Citi wealth management, within the fixed income department, advising clients on their fixed income investments. Nirman has graduated from Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur (Masters in Business) and University of Mumbai (Computer Sc. Engineering).

Chris is responsible for promoting the global Invesco ETF range to clients across Asia-Pacific. Chris previously worked for BlackRock as part of the APAC Portfolio Consulting team where he would construct multi-asset portfolios using a risk lens to meet client investment outcomes, predominantly using ETFs. Prior to this, Chris was part of the iShares ETF and Indexing product team based in Australia where he would develop and launch new, and maintain existing, ETFs. Chris holds a B.Sc. in Physics and a Postgraduate Certificate in Applied Statistics, both from Macquarie University, Sydney.

Gareth Nicholson joined Nomura in July 2021 as Chief Investment Officer and Head of Discretionary Portfolio Management for International Wealth Management. He is based in Singapore.

Gareth works closely with Nomura’s Global Markets and Investment Banking businesses to expand the firm’s product offerings and spearhead a streamlined, solutions-driven coverage effort for high-net-worth clients, external asset managers and family offices. With a strong institutional investment background, he creates and manages DPM strategies for fixed income, equity and multi-asset portfolios, while providing risk management support.

Gareth has over 16 years of experience in financial markets. Prior to Nomura, he was Head of Fixed Income DPM at Bank of Singapore, where he was also a member of its investment committee. Before that, he was with Aberdeen Standard Investments for almost 10 years as a fixed income trader and an Asian credit portfolio manager. He began working in finance in 2004 as a derivatives specialist with Deutsche Asset Management after an early career as a mathematics teacher.

Gareth holds a BSc in Financial Mathematics from the University of Johannesburg. He was born and raised in East London, South Africa.