Having already seen UBS and State Street increase the scope of their hedge fund services in Asia, the former launching a hedge fund administrat
Having already seen UBS and State Street increase the scope of their hedge fund services in Asia, the former launching a hedge fund administration platform in July, Deutsche Bank has followed suit by introducing a similar service in Hong Kong reported AsianInvestor this week. To capitalise on its well-established prime brokerage business to help grow market share, the German bank has launched the Alternative Fund Services (AFS) business to provide both banking and administration support to hedge funds, FoFs, private equity and real estate funds. Martin O’Regan leads the division as regional head of AFS for Asia. He will be based in Hong Kong having worked out of Singapore since AFS launched there in 2008. The dual operation will serve Pan-Asian clients from Vietnam and Australia through to Singapore and Taiwan according to O’Regan who adds that several China private equity managers have signed up. Deutsche aims to be one of Asia’s top five hedge fund administrators said Mike Hughes, the head of AFS for Asia, Europe, the Middle East and Americas, who was quoted as saying: “We wouldn’t be entering this market if we didn’t think we could be a major player within a three- to five-year timeframe.” O’Regan said AFS would look to leverage Deutsche’s name in areas such as corporate banking services in China, which, in his opinion, is becoming an important hedge fund market.
