The Hedge Fund Standards Board (HFSB), the global standard-setting body for the alternative investment industry, has added George Long, founder, chairman and CIO of LIM Advisors, and Danny Yong, founding partner and CIO of Dymon Asia Capital, to its APAC Committee.
The HFSB’s APAC Committee was established in June 2016 with APAC-based representatives from Albourne, CPPIB, Future Fund, GIC and PAG.
The committee directs the HFSB’s activities in the Asia-Pacific region, including assisting with the HFSB’s dialogue and relationships with regulators, managers and investors, and ensuring that Asia-Pacific regional and local issues and needs are addressed as the HFSB develops standards and guidance.
In 2016 the HFSB saw strong growth in its Asia-Pacific Investor Chapter and manager signatory membership, due in large part to the efforts of the APAC Committee.
Over the past year, eight additional APAC-based managers committed to becoming signatories to the standards: Dymon Capital Asia (Singapore), Graticule Asset Management (Singapore), Income Partners Asset Management (Hong Kong), LIM Advisors (Hong Kong), Nezu Asia Capital Management (Hong Kong), Rockhampton Management Ltd (Hong Kong), Springs Capital (Hong Kong) and Trustbridge Partners (Hong Kong).
They join six APAC-based managers who already are HFSB signatories, bringing the total to 14 out of the more than 125 managers who are signatories.
APAC-based investors who joined the HFSB Investor Chapter in 2016 include CB PermaTrust Asset Management (China), New Zealand Superannuation Fund (New Zealand), Telstra Super (Australia) and Victorian Funds Management Corporation (Australia).
In April 2016, the HFSB established a mutual observer relationship with the International Forum of Sovereign Wealth Funds (IFSWF), a global network of sovereign wealth funds which includes several of the largest in the Asia-Pacific region.
Dame Amelia Fawcett (pictured), chairman of the HFSB, says: “We welcome Danny and George to our APAC Committee and are thrilled by how the Asia-Pacific alternative investment community has been embracing the Standards. We thank our APAC Committee members and the HFSB’s many other supporters for working with their peers to increase understanding of how the standards help both investors and managers by strengthening our industry.
“The fact that an increasing number of APAC-based managers are committed to meeting global standards is further evidence that the Asia-Pacific is becoming a major region in the alternative investment industry, complementing North America and Europe.”
Chris Gradel, chairman of the APAC Committee, says: “We appreciate Danny and George joining the APAC Committee. Their perspectives as leading managers active in Asia will be valuable in our mission to help APAC investors and managers understand the importance of the Standards, and also to ensure the HFSB standards are addressing local as well as global needs.”
As part of its increased activities in the APAC region, in 2016 the HFSB held institutional investor roundtables in Hong Kong, Melbourne, Shanghai, Singapore and Sydney that brought together over 250 representatives from APAC-based and global investors and alternative investment managers, to build a better dialogue on local and global industry issues.
Long is the founder, chairman and chief investment officer of LIM Advisors Limited. His experience in the financial industry began in 1981. Before establishing LIM in 1995, Long set up and ran Barclays Global Investors’ asset management business in Asia. While at Barclays, he served on the executive committee for Barclays Group Asia and the global investment committee in London. He was the founding chairman of the Hong Kong Society of Financial Analyst and served on the board of governors of the CFA Institute. He was also the founding chairman of the Hong Kong Chapter of the Alternative Investment Management Association (AIMA) and served on AIMA’s board in London.
Yong is the chief investment officer and a founding partner of Dymon Asia Capital, and has over 20 years of experience trading FX, fixed income, and index futures in Asia. Prior to Dymon, he was a founding partner and chief investment officer of Abax Global Capital, a hedge fund based in Hong Kong. During his career, Yong was also a managing director at Citadel Investment Asia in Hong Kong, where he established and ran the Asia Macro trading business from late 2005 to early 2007 for the firm. In addition, he was head of trading for South East Asian derivatives, fixed income and foreign exchange at Goldman Sachs where he spent six years in the Hong Kong and Tokyo offices.
