Matthews Asia Hires Michael Barrer as Head of ETF Capital Markets

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Matthews Asia today announced the hire of Michael Barrer as VP, Head of ETF Capital Markets. In this new role, Michael serves as the primary relationship manager for all capital markets relationships and partners with the Firm’s portfolio management, portfolio strategy, operations and distribution teams to support the Firm’s ETF initiatives.

The hire follows on the Firm’s announcement in April that it intends to offer its first actively managed exchange-traded funds (ETFs). The Firm filed an initial registration statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on April 15, 2022, to introduce three transparent active ETF strategies focused on global emerging markets, Asia and China.

Michael joins from WisdomTree Investments after a decade-long career with the Firm where he was most recently Director of Capital Markets responsible for managing relationships with market makers in support of WisdomTree’s global suite of ETFs.

Cooper Abbott, CEO of Matthews Asia commented: “The launch of our active ETFs comes at an opportune time, as investors begin to reconsider emerging markets, including China, as core portfolio allocations capable of delivering growth and diversification to their portfolios. I am therefore particularly pleased to have Michael join Matthews Asia and have our clients benefit from his extensive experience in bringing our new ETFs to market and leverage his deep knowledge of trading and execution strategies.”

Michael Barrer, Head of ETF Capital Markets, commented: “I am thrilled to join Matthews Asia, a highly respected expert in the emerging markets. The launch of these new active ETFs will provide investors with greater access to the Firm’s capabilities. We are excited to be offering our strategies to investors in this ETF wrapper that combines the benefits of an active investment approach with the transparency, daily trading and potential tax efficiency of ETFs. I believe this combination will enhance the ETF experience for our clients. While active ETFs are still relatively new for many investors, I believe that as awareness grows, this vehicle represents a significant long-term growth opportunity in the industry.”

About Matthews Asia

Since 1991, we have focused our efforts and expertise within the Asia and the emerging markets, investing through a variety of market environments. As an independent, privately owned firm, Matthews Asia is the largest dedicated Asia investment specialist in the United States. With approximately US$18.3 billion in assets under management as of May 31, 2022, Matthews Asia employs a bottom-up, fundamental investment philosophy, with a focus on long-term investment performance. For more information, please visit matthewsasia.com.

You should carefully consider the investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses of the Matthews Asia Funds before making an investment decision. A prospectus with this and other information about the Funds may be obtained by visiting matthewsasia.com. Please read the prospectus carefully before investing.

The value of an investment in the Fund can go down as well as up and possible loss of principal is a risk of investing. Investments in international, emerging and frontier markets involve risks such as economic, social and political instability, market illiquidity, currency fluctuations, high levels of volatility, and limited regulation. Additionally, investing in emerging and frontier securities involves greater risks than investing in securities of developed markets, as issuers in these countries generally disclose less financial and other information publicly or restrict access to certain information from review by non-domestic authorities. Emerging and frontier markets tend to have less stringent and less uniform accounting, auditing and financial reporting standards, limited regulatory or governmental oversight, and limited investor protection or rights to take action against issuers, resulting in potential material risks to investors. Investing in Chinese securities involve risks. Heightened risks related to the regulatory environment and the potential actions by the Chinese government could negatively impact performance. In addition, single-country and sector funds may be subject to a higher degree of market risk than diversified funds because of concentration in a specific industry, sector or geographic location. Pandemics and other public health emergencies can result in market volatility and disruption.

ETFs may trade at a premium or discount to NAV. Shares of any ETF are bought and sold at market price (not NAV) and are not individually redeemed from the Fund. Brokerage commissions will reduce returns.

Matthews Asia Funds are distributed in the U.S. by Foreside Distributors LLC and in Latin America by Picton, S.A.