Why Bonds?

Mr. Zarul is an Investment Manager in Opus that joined in February 2022. He oversees multiple discretionary and wholesale funds within the Opus group. He started his career as an intern at Morgan Stanley Wealth Management Brisbane in the relative value and arbitraging team during the 2008 global financial crisis.

Later, he joined RHB Bank as a Cross Market trader in 2011 where he is primarily in charge in maintaining the principal dealership as well as trading multiple cross currency assets. He then was scouted in 2015 by Kumpulan Wang Persaraan (Diperbadankan) to manage their government & quasi and Asian fixed income portfolios where he managed Asset under management worth RM 50 billion.

In 2017, he was recruited by United Overseas Bank Malaysia Berhad (UOB) to setup their Credit Trading Desk, Structure Credit Desk, as well as Retail Bond Business. He grew the business to generate RM 20 million a year in profit within 2 years as well as developing new credit derivative products for UOB.

Mr. Zarul holds a Bachelor of Commerce (Finance) from the University of Queensland, Australia and is a holder of Capital Markets Services Representative’s License.

Ms Joanne joined Opus Asset Management as an Investment Manager in 2021. She has over 13 years of experience in the financial markets. Joanne started her career in 2009 as a banker in RHB Banking Group and Hong Leong Investment Bank where she spent six years in the Treasury Departments specialising in Institutional Fixed Income Sales. Subsequently, she joined Bank Negara Malaysia as a portfolio manager in 2015, heading the Internal Fund Management team which manages fixed income funds. Prior to joining Opus, Ms Joanne was attached to Dutaland as an Investment Manager with responsibilities of overseeing investments in multi-asset investments in ringgit and offshore markets

Ms Joanne passed the Pasaran Kewangan Malaysia Certificate examination and is also a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) Charterholder. She holds a Bachelor of Economics from the University of Queensland, Australia and is currently a holder of a Capital Markets Services Representative’s License.

Mr. Tan joined Opus Asset Management as Senior Fund Manager in 2013. He has over 30 years of experience in the financial market. He started his career at Arab Malaysian Merchant Bank in 1989. He then joined Great Eastern Life Assurance Malaysia Berhad in 1997 as the Manager of Fixed Income and was subsequently promoted to Vice President where he headed the Fixed Income Investments Department, managing a fund size of about RM20 billion. In 2007, he joined Avenue Invest Berhad for 2 years as Director/Head of Fixed Income. Prior to joining Opus, Mr. Tan was attached to Kenanga Investment Bank Berhad as Head of Fixed Income and Senior Vice President, Portfolio Management from 2009 until 2013.

Mr. Tan is a member of the Persatuan Pasaran Kewangan Malaysia (PPKM) and a Certified Financial Planner (CFP). He holds an Advanced Diploma in Business and Management from the University of Wales, U.K. He is also a holder of a Capital Markets Services Representative’s Licence.

Dr Ray Choy is Head of Economics & Research at Opus Asset Management. Ray has two decades of experience in the financial markets that includes G3 and Asian fixed-income and FX strategy, local currency and US dollar global bond funds management, commodities research, regional equities investments, and credit ratings. Prior to Opus, Ray set up two research teams for major investment banks, and a global funds management and research team. He remains actively involved in formulating and communicating macro strategy to the financial markets.

Ray’s research has been consistently ranked 1^st or in the top tier of various polls, such as The Edge’s 2008 poll, The Asset’s Asian Currency Bond survey from 2009 to 2021, the BPAM award and the Alpha Southeast Asia 2020 Treasury & FX award. While at Meridian Asset Management, he managed an Islamic fund which was ranked 1st in the Edge-Lipper rankings and in 2012, he was part of the team which received the Edge-Lipper Malaysia Best Bond Fund Group Award. Additionally, Ray is a corporate trainer, consultant, conference speaker and commentator through various media channels and is columnist for “Capital Contours” in The Edge Weekly.

Ray has published in top tier peer-reviewed journals and authored a book titled “Essays in Bond Market Economics” which is catalogued in the British Library and the Libraries of LSE and SOAS. He has also delivered lectures and talks with top-ranked international academic institutions such as Monash University and the University of Nottingham.

Ray graduated with a BA in Business and Finance with Distinction from Heriot-Watt University, a BSc in Politics and International Relations with 1^st Class Honours from the University of London (LSE), an MSc in Finance (Economic Policy) with Merit from the University of London (SOAS) and a PhD degree focusing on sovereign credit ratings from the University of Nottingham.