Hong Kong is maintaining its supremacy over Singapore as Asia’s hedge fund magnet, The Wall Street Journal reports. The Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission has recorded 148 hedge funds with US$17 billion operating on its shores, while the Monetary Authority of Singapore claims about 100 worth only US$6 billion. Hong Kong is coming out ahead for some very good reasons: its proximity to economic mammoth China, and a well-developed prime-brokers market, which is increasingly becoming a necessity for hedge funds. Singapore has an easier and less expensive registration process, says the Journal, but it is viewed more as the economic center for Southeast Asia, which is still emerging as a market and currently does not hold the same attraction for investors as rest of the continent, including Japan and India. The paper reports that while there is no open competition between Hong Kong and Singapore, over the years, the governments of each have enacted measures to attract hedge funds.
