International Herald Tribune – Hong Kong won’t ease hedge fund rule
The Hong Kong securities regulator said Tuesday that it had ruled out relaxing restrictions on licensing hedge fund managers, declining to follow Singapore’s lead even as competition to attract assets had intensified.
“The Hong Kong label should be a label of quality,” Alexa Lam, an executive director at the Securities and Futures Commission, said at a conference. Singapore exempts licensing for managers of hedge funds that have no more than 30 investors. Hong Kong does not plan to adopt such a rule, Lam said.
Hong Kong and Singapore are vying to become the hub for hedge funds in Asia. They are competing to draw start-ups and local offices of global fund houses as overseas investors expand the amount of money they put into the region.
