The City watchdog said its annual Fund Management Activities Survey revealed assets under management were HK$12.5bn at the end of last year, marking a record high for the industry and indicating a significant rebound from the 10% fall witnessed in 2011.
“There has been overall growth in different types of fund management business activities from an increasing pool of market players,” said Mrs Alexa Lam, the SFC’s deputy chief executive and executive director of investment products, international and China.
“With an integrated network of institutions, availability of financial expertise, a diverse investor base, and a robust and transparent regulatory framework, Hong Kong continues to be recognised as an international asset management centre in Asia.”
The SFC said the survey also indicated that Hong Kong continues to serve as an investment platform for attracting capital from non-Hong Kong investors, with overseas investors contributing $8bn (or 64%) to the total fund management business, excluding real estate investment trusts (REITs), in 2012. The SFC pointed out that contributions from overseas investors have consistently remained above 60% over the past five years.
In addition to chalking up a record year for fund managers, the SFC said insurance companies also managed to increase their assets by almost a quarter to $358bn by the end of the year.
Click here to read about last year’s Fund Management Activities Survey
