China will prove promising despite the slow start

Date: 27 May 2015

Citywealth

Brian Dillon, Partner at Dillon Eustace, also says new regulated fund products will help asset mangers to attract both EU and US-based investors.

What trends do you see in the hedge funds sector?

I think that we will continue to see the investor driven preference for regulated fund products such as Alternative Investment Fund (AIFs) domiciled and regulated in Ireland which are passportable across the EU. In addition, I expect that the recently introduced Irish Collective Asset Management Vehicle (ICAV) structure will prove to be a very popular choice with those asset managers seeking to attract both EU based and US taxable investors.

Another interesting developments has been in China who has significantly increased the accessibility of its stock market to overseas investors since the introduction of Qualified Foreign Institutional Investor quota regime over ten years ago that opened the market to foreign investors.

The launch of the Hong Kong Shanghai Stock Connect, a cross-boundary investment channel that connects the Shanghai Stock Exchange and the Hong Kong Stock Exchange enables investors in either market to trade shares on the other market using their local brokers and clearing houses.

While the HKSSC was launched in November last year, it is taking longer than expected to gather momentum. However, I believe it will prove successful.