From a humble start for alternatives in private wealth business, we have become a decisive and impeccable part of the client's global allocation. The prospect for the future is even brighter with the higher allocation percentage forecast. CAIA has been a partner for my own professional journey, keeping me up to date with the latest industry development as well as networking globally. The regular continuous education events by experienced industry practitioners bring us the latest trends, accompanied by many high-quality research papers from CAIA Association. In addition, the open dialogues with other seasoned professionals at the events give Members like me the best opportunity to get first-hand insight too.
Early 2000 in Singapore, hedge funds and private markets made a huge wave in Asia and became better connected with the rest of the global markets. CAIA designation was a pioneer benchmark in alternatives. In the last 20 years, it has achieved wider and wider recognition globally. CAIA Chapters and staff have also tremendously increased values for Members and Candidates alike. The designation has been a very relevant facilitation to my career. It makes me proud, and I hope I make CAIA proud too.
In Hong Kong, our events have welcomed high caliber speakers and government representatives with more attendees. We have also seen increasing interest in corporate sponsorship or joint events with other industry associations which lead to stronger brand recognition. After integrating Mainland China last year, our Greater China Chapter has become one of the largest among CAIA’s global network. Built on the rich experience of the previous Hong Kong Chapter regarding events, networking, community outreach etc., we now have extended this to Mainland China. With a newly established subcommittee for Beijing and Shanghai, Members like me can expect to increase our interactions with this second largest economy in the world and broaden CAIA’s footprint there too.
There are a lot of talent focusing on Asian markets which are huge and diverse and always provide opportunities. Besides the United States, Asia and China are the fastest growing markets in high tech, attributed not only by world class entrepreneurs but also by high caliber professionals in the whole value chain. Deepseek is just one of many examples. Many in Asia are focused on semi liquid private market investment and assets tokenization. This is the so-called democratization process which allows a much wider audience to participate in those investment segments which were kept almost exclusively for institutional investors in the past due to high entry barriers and lack of communication.
A role model of mine is Ray Dalio, investing with principles. Without disciplines and principles, short term success will not sustain over economic cycles which many times are unexpected. For example, one principle is “Stay Radically Open-Minded”. This teaches all of us to recognize the constant changes in business, to be always on the lookout for new opportunities and embrace the future.
My advice for anyone starting their career in alternatives is: Start low, get your hands dirty, and get multiple exposures. Then, stay persistent and try to excel.
About Will Wang, CAIA, CFA, CMT
Will is the Head of Hong Kong and Strategic Partnerships Asia at VP Wealth Management (HK) Ltd., a subsidiary of VP Bank Ltd. His role consists of strategic planning, growing business in Greater China, providing the clients with global solutions, and managing the company's compliance, operations and staff. He has been a CAIA Member since 2005.