Take this financial license!, There are also giants managing assets and licenses

China Fund News Wu Juanjuan

According to the official website of the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission, in June 2023, top private equity investment institutions such as Dunhe Asset Management, Renqiao Asset Management, and Jinge Liangrui were awarded the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission's No. 9 license plate, which allows them to engage in asset management business in Hong Kong, indicating that the three institutions have made significant progress in their overseas business. Among them, Xue Youwei, one of the license holders of Renqiao Asset Management, is an asset management veteran with nearly 20 years of experience. Some institutional insiders say that the successive visits of top institutions to Hong Kong indicate that Hong Kong still has strong appeal as a gateway to the sea.

Three leading institutions have obtained Hong Kong asset management licenses

According to the news from the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission, Dunhe International Fund Management, a subsidiary of Dunhe Asset Management, was approved by the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission in June. In the same month, Jin Ge Rui Asset Management Limited) and Renqiao Asset Management Co., Limited) were awarded the No. 9 plate by the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission.

Some institutions that were newly licensed by the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission in June are all Hong Kong subsidiaries of well-known domestic private equity firms.

According to insiders, Dunhe International Fund Management Company is an overseas company of Dunhe Asset Management, which obtained the No. 4 license plate for securities consulting and the No. 9 license plate for asset management on June 28th.

According to data, the parent company Dunhe Asset Management Co., Ltd. was established on March 2, 2011. It is a global macro private equity fund that has grown up in China and is committed to investing in domestic and foreign capital markets. Dunhe Asset Management has three investment research strategy teams: Dunhe Yonghao, Dunhe Fengyun, and Dunhe Macro Hedge.

Jinge Liangrui Asset Management was granted the Hong Kong Asset Management License No. 9 on June 13th.

According to the data, the parent company Jingo Liangrui was established in 2011, with a latest management scale exceeding 10 billion yuan. The general manager and legal representative of the company is Jin Ge, who graduated from Columbia University with a Master's degree in Financial Mathematics, a Bachelor's degree in Biology from the University of Science and Technology of China, and a PhD in Biomedical Engineering from Boston University.

Jin Ge joined Laurion Capital Management LP, a US hedge fund, in 2007 as the Director of Quantitative Trading, responsible for developing statistical arbitrage trading strategies and managing billions of dollars in assets. Since 2011, he has served as the General Manager of Liangrui Investment Consulting Co., Ltd. Since 2014, I have been serving as the General Manager and Legal Representative of Ningbo Jinge Liangrui Asset Management Co., Ltd., focusing on quantitative research and strategy development and maintenance.

The third institution-Renqiao Asset Management) is a Hong Kong company that is a well-known private equity Renqiao Asset Management in China. It obtained the Hong Kong Securities Regulatory Commission's No. 9 license on June 16. The license holders are Xue Youwei and Zhang Ai.

Xia Junjie, founder and investment director of Renqiao Asset Management, stated in early 2023 when reviewing the company's performance in 2022 that the registration of the Hong Kong company was completed in 2022. The establishment of the Hong Kong company is of great significance for Renqiao to explore a second strategy beyond reverse, especially in hedging direction, and to engage with more overseas institutional investors. We look forward to more friends who share similar concepts and values with Renqiao to join us. We hope that openness, inclusiveness, strictness, and progress can become Renqiao's eternal pursuit goals, he said.

In the past 20 years, veteran asset management personnel have gone abroad

Xue Youwei, one of the license holders of Renqiao Asset Management, is an experienced asset management general.

It is understood that Xue Youwei worked at Nuo'an Fund Management Co., Ltd. for 19 years and resigned in early 2023 to start a business in Hong Kong. Together with Xia Junjie, he established Renqiao Asset Management Co., Ltd. in Hong Kong to explore overseas fund business.

According to media reports, Xue Youwei joined Nuo'an Fund from the beginning of its establishment in 2004 and has held positions such as Fund Accounting Director, Director of Finance and Comprehensive Department, General Manager of Fund Operations Department, and Chief Accountant of the company, witnessing the development of Nuo'an Fund from scratch.

Xue You previously stated in a media interview that he likes Hong Kong, China and is optimistic about its position as the center of global asset management. "As an international financial center, Hong Kong is the preferred destination for private wealth management in Asia," said Xue Youwei. Hong Kong has mature regulations and numerous financial institutions, which can provide a variety of investment options and channels for global investors, he further stated.

When discussing the strategic considerations for Renqiao Asset's expansion into the offshore market, Xue Youwei stated that his main goal is to break through the current subjective stock long strategy of homogenization, and use diversified hedging tools in Hong Kong or other international capital markets to expand investment strategy lines. The establishment of a Hong Kong company is of great significance for the company's expansion strategy direction and reaching out to more overseas institutional investors.

Xue Youwei stated that Renqiao's Hong Kong company mainly engages in overseas US dollar fund business, investing in securities, futures, derivative assets, and other financial products in major markets of Hong Kong and A-shares worldwide, and may also participate in US stock IPOs. He revealed that Renqiao has registered his first US dollar fund in Cayman, and he previously worked mainly in the management backend of Noan Fund. Now, while managing the middle and backend, he is also actively expanding his business.

Excellent investment institutions are going global one after another

Since the first batch of private equity went overseas, domestic private equity has continued to expand its overseas business.

For example, Jinglin obtained Hong Kong's No. 9 license plate in 2005. "Soul figure" Jiang Jinzhi became one of the responsible persons for the license in 2017. As of now, there are three license holders, including Jiang Jinzhi, Yang Weixin, and Cai Chenyiting.

Baoyin Asset Management was granted license number 9 in 2010 and currently has three license holders: Wang Qiang, Bao Jiarong, and Chen Huiyun.

Among them, Wang Qiang was the first generation fund manager in China. The long short strategy of stocks under Baoyin has won recognition from many institutional investors overseas, and Baoyin Asset Management is also one of the early private equity managers to practice platform based management models in China.

Tamsui Springs Hong Kong was awarded 4 and 9 licenses in 2011 and 1 in 2021. Danshui Springs is currently the leading private equity manager for domestic and overseas businesses.

As of now, most well-known Chinese managers overseas have applied for license plate number 9 in Hong Kong, and one of the typical representatives is Runhui. As of now, Runhui is one of the Chinese private equity managers with the most funds managed by overseas institutional investors. Runhui was granted the Asset Management License No. 9 by the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission in 2007. As of now, the three Hong Kong license holders are Li Gang, Min Yu, and Pei Yinyin.

Another important overseas Chinese investment manager "RedGateAssetManagement" was awarded the No. 4 and No. 9 plates of the Hong Kong Securities Regulatory Commission in 2012; Biyun Asset Management was awarded the No. 4 and No. 9 plates of the Hong Kong Securities Regulatory Commission in 2017.

Excellent private equity managers are still constantly joining the wave of going global.

For example, in April 2023, renowned fund manager Chen Guangming's Ruiyuan Fund Asset Management was granted license plates 4 and 9 by the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission.

According to the annual report of the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission, there were a total of 48182 licensed persons in the fiscal year 2022-2023. Since 2018-2019, the overall number of licensed persons has steadily increased. However, the total number of licensed persons in 2022-2023 slightly decreased from 48290 to 48182 compared to the total number of licensed persons in 2020-2021.

Wu Shan, Vice President of Dongying Asset Management, previously stated in an interview with China Fund News that private equity going global is a process of exploration and practice. The industry is changing, and managers need to evolve dynamically.

In addition, many private equity institutions believe that in the process of going abroad, internal construction such as talent teams is the most important. Internationalization is a matter of urgency. While it is important to achieve overseas investment performance, building a high-quality compliance operation team is equally important. Wang Qing, Chairman of Chongyang Investment, stated that domestic asset management institutions have accumulated a lot of experience in A-shares. However, going overseas is, to a certain extent, starting from scratch. The layout of the front, middle, and back ends requires a process, including overseas platform construction, team operation and adjustment, as well as a performance record of more than 3 years. In the initial stage of preparation for development, the focus should be on internal construction. According to the data, Chongyang International Asset Management obtained the Hong Kong Securities Regulatory Commission's No. 9 license in 2015, with Wang Qing being one of the license holders.

Hong Kong promotes the construction of an international financial center

In recent years, Hong Kong has spared no effort in promoting the construction of an international financial center, and is committed to making Hong Kong a global asset management center. The Secretary for Financial Affairs and Treasury of Hong Kong, Hsu Cheng yu, previously stated in a media interview that Hong Kong's status as a super contact person is an important condition for the construction of Hong Kong's international financial center.

Hong Kong has always played an important role as an international financial center in the overall development of the country, playing important roles in strengthening offshore RMB business, international asset management center, and risk management. Regarding how Hong Kong can play its role as a super contact person, Xu Zhengyu stated in an interview with reporters on June 29th that over the past year, the SAR government has promoted Hong Kong's position as an international financial center and competitiveness from three aspects.

Xu Zhengyu stated that the first aspect is the improvement of Hong Kong's own market competitiveness, including the reform of listed companies in March, which helped some technology companies go public in Hong Kong; And besides improving the financing market, we should also focus on improving the asset management market. The second aspect is to do a good job in interconnectivity with the mainland, including opening ETFs, connecting with the mainland bond market, and launching 28 RMB counters, so that investors can not only invest in Hong Kong stocks in Hong Kong dollars, but also invest in Hong Kong stocks in RMB. The third aspect is to develop new financial fields, that is, to continuously innovate and enhance competitiveness in green and sustainable finance.