News.gov.hk -A decade ago, it would have been rather controversial to talk about hedge funds, given the Asian economies were hard hit by a severe financial crisis widely believed to be triggered by a group of aggressive hedge funds at that time.
Today, the hedge-fund industry has become an important driving force in the global financial markets. At present, there are about 10,000 hedge funds around the world with assets under management amounting to US$2.5 trillion.
It is believed that hedge funds now account for about 40% of the turnover of major stock exchanges in the world, or a quarter of the derivatives turnover. These statistics suggest that the hedge-fund industry has become an important pillar of the world’s financial markets.
