Hedge Fund Education Urged In HK In Face Of Lukewarm Investor Response

by Carla Johnson, Investors Offshore.com

29 October 2003

Hong Kong's banks and financial advisers should be educated in the benefits of hedge fund investment so that they can persuade more retail investors to come on board, according to Man Investments.

Speaking to the Hong Kong Standard this week, the firm's Asia Pacific regional manager, Matt Dillon suggested that hedge fund providers should provide institutions and finance professionals with detailed information about the workings of the risky investment vehicles, explaining that:

"We held a number of seminars to educate the distributors about our products." He went on to observe that:

"The SFC has set a high standard for funds, basically to protect investors' interests. That's why investors have less funds to choose from."

According to the HK Standard, Mr Dillon also suggested that in addition to the lack of information on hedge funds provided by potential distributors of the product, the recent bullish equity market may help to explain the lukewarm retain investor response, as smaller investors are traditionally less interested in alternative investments during rising markets.

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