It will focus particularly on Cayman Island-domiciled funds with underlying assets in Hong Kong or Singapore.
The GSX accepts listings from funds distributed outside of Europe which are domiciled in jurisdictions that do not permit marketing in Europe without an Alternative Investment Fund Manager (AIFM) licence.
Investors can use the exchange’s online portal to directly contact the manager of a listed fund.
Marcus Wohlrab, founder and marketing director of the GSX, said its low cost and speed provides a “step” into Europe for “smaller” funds that have less than €100m AUM.
“These funds may not be able to afford the complicated legal costs of acquiring an AIFM licence nor have time for its time-consuming application process,” he said. “The GSX costs just €2,000 to list and takes 20 days.”
He said jurisdictions of interest are Hong Kong and Singapore, where 85% of funds are worth less than €100m while 65% contain below €50m.
“These Asian funds can list on the exchange to become visible in Europe while they build up enough assets to purchase an AIFM licence and go fully onshore in Europe,” he added.
“The products cannot be marketed to European investors without the licence, but if investors approach the product themselves then their investment is permitted.”
The GSX will primarily target high net-worth European investors, but will also focus on institutional investors who require funds to be listed for investment.
It also hopes to capitalise on April’s UK pension reforms, by providing a wider choice of investments for those taking advantage of the flexibilities.
The exchange opened in November last year after being founded in 2012.
Nicola Smith, managing director at Helvetic Fund Administration, one of the GSX’s listing member firms, said: “We see a listing on the GSX by a Hong Kong or Singapore fund as anopportunity to establish visibility in the European market, which is a key first step for firms.”
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