Every year, the Korean Financial Investment Association (KOFIA), a non-profit, self-regulatory organization (SRO) in South Korea, organizes a number of training and education events with the objective to foster and enhance the overseas fund management capacity of its members. This year, KOFIA together with the Eurex Hong Kong office co-hosted the “2016 Global Investment Hong Kong” Program (GIHK) from 25 to 27 April. The 2016 GIHK seminar focused on sharing practical investment knowledge and managed to do so by bringing together speakers from global Investment banks, Hedge Funds, and Private Equity Funds. This event was well attended by over 100 market participants from Korean pension funds, asset managers and other companies from the buy and the sell side. Topics discussed included
- Searching for yields: Strategies in senior loans, Asia fixed income, securitized products and hedge funds
- How to add portfolio components which make money in risk-off markets?
- Pensions with purpose: Meeting the retirement challenge
- MSCI: The changing global index landscape and Futures & Options opportunities
Eurex also hosted two dinners for the conference attendees, a welcome dinner at The Hong Kong Bankers Club on 25 April and a closing dinner at the Happy Valley Racecourse on 27 April. In the opening dinner speech, Markus Georgi, the Head of Hong Kong Representative Office of Eurex, emphasized the importance of the German/South Korean relationship, stating that: “Korea and Germany have had a very long diplomatic relationship, going back all the way to 1883 when the first Germany – Korea Treaty was established. […] For Germany, Korea is the third most important trade partner in Asia; on the other hand, Germany is Korea’s principal trading partner in Europe”.
Throughout the three days, Eurex received very positive feedback from the program participants regarding the quality and diversity of topics covered by the speakers, and the events in the evenings. Attendees were also given the opportunity to network with industry peers and potential business partners. All in all, the event was a huge success and we are already planning a second Global Investment Program in Europe with KOFIA.