The world of finance has turned much of its attention to the East, and so has the CAIA Association. As the investment landscapes of Singapore, Hong Kong, and Korea shift from more traditional investment vehicles to alternatives, so too will there be a growing demand for the type of specialized education that the CAIA program provides.

Just last month, Hossein Kazemi, Program Director, and I attended the launch of CAIA Korea, the latest addition to our network. Like other Asian nations, Korea only very recently opened up its markets to domestic hedge funds and already houses much interest in alternative investments. We at the CAIA Association saw this coming simply by looking at our numbers: between March and September 2011, the number of candidates in Korea who sat for the CAIA examination doubled.

The hedge fund industry in the continent at large even shows signs of evolving. As the obstacles to managing a fund, such as the rising bar of total assets under management, increase, clear competitive advantages form. Asian sovereign wealth funds are another alternative investment experiencing a transformation, primarily due to a dramatic shift in trend from investing in fund of hedge funds to hiring single strategy managers.

Our colleague associations also recognize the importance of learning to understand the Asian alternatives market. Joint FRM and CAIA educational events in Singapore, as well as events between the CAIA Association and the Singapore Venture Capital Association, are planned for the coming year.

By Sam Y. Chung, PhD, Academic Advisor