Presentation materials can be downloaded from the agenda page

The fund management industry is anticipated to exceed US$2 trillion by 2010. Fund assets under management (AUM) in Asia are at a record high due to strong interest in mutual fund assets as an asset class.

This explosive growth in professionally managed funds is expected to be fuelled by confidence in the strong performance of the region's stock markets, as well as regulatory reforms and the increasing liberalisation of Asian fund markets. These regulatory changes include China's extension of its QDII programme, the increase in India's overseas investment limit, and South Korea's tax exemptions for foreign-invested onshore funds, and are leading to an increase in the number of investors in mutual funds.

Taiwan

• Taiwan's fund industry is the fourth-largest in Asia and is currently introducing reforms to its capital markets to attract more foreign investment, managers and products to Taiwan.
• With the new Securities Investment Trust and Consulting Act allowing more business opportunities for onshore and offshore funds, Taiwan will become Asia's largest mutual fund market (ex-Japan) by 2008, with assets of US$213 billion, or about 31% of the Asian market.

Hong Kong

• Hong Kong's Securities and Futures Commission has further loosened restrictions on the authorisation of certain Ucits-3 funds, becoming the first regulator in Asia to accept certain products under pan-European jurisdiction.
• In the first five months of 2007, the Hong Kong fund industry registered gross sales of US$15,842 million, up by 24.7% over 2006.

China

• China is the fastest growing market in the world, with its assets size more than doubling in the first six months of 2007. Demand for funds is on the rise in China, with the qualified domestic institutional investors (QDII) programme attracting fresh capital from mainland investors, pension funds and investors who are turning to mutual funds for long-term investment.
• More Chinese investors are turning to fund managers rather than investing directly in stocks in the mainland. A total of 5.12 million fund accounts opened recently in China, with new A-share accounts reaching 3.78 million. There is at least US$1 trillion in domestic savings tucked away in bank accounts in China, making this one of the most lucrative markets in Asia for fund managers.

Automating Asia's booming fund business will be no small task, but it is becoming increasingly urgent, given pace of growth in the funds sector across Asia. A recent report from Strategic Insight shows that new inflow of funds in Asia is around US$215 billion, twice the pace of 2006. Are your back office processes sufficiently robust and scaleable to adapt to this changing environment?

The Fund Distribution and Automation Conference has been designed to encourage dialogue in the Asia Pacific fund industry as it faces new distribution opportunities, and the need to lower costs and reduce risk by eliminating inefficiencies from its institutional and retail fund operations.

Topics to be discussed will include:

• Growth trends and challenges for the Asia Pacific region
• The changing regulatory environment
• Asia as a single market for domestic and offshore funds
• Distribution trends
• Off-shoring and outsourcing experiences, with case studies
• Industry updates from the Asia Fund Automation Consortium (AFAC)
• Benchmarking operational efficiency
• Operational Alpha - achieving performance in operations
• Market infrastructure for mutual funds
• Exploring available IT platforms

Interactive and thought-provoking, this conference is your opportunity to discuss the latest progress in funds distribution and automation. It is also a great opportunity to network with your peers and industry experts. Speakers from the industry will join regional experts from SWIFT to answer your questions about reducing operational risks and costs based on their experience with fund automation.

If the industry is to successfully cope with rapid growth, it must embrace a more efficient back office structure. Be a part of the dialogue. Make the case for change in your business.

Due to the overwhelming response, the conference is full and registration has been closed already. Should you want to be in the mailing list of our future events, please send an email with your full contact details to Daisy.Fung@euro-events.com. Thank you for your support!

EuroEvents welcomes sponsors and exhibitors for this conference. Please contact Sammy Ho at sammy.ho@euro-events.com or tel: +852 2810 6269.

The Fund Distribution and Automation Conference is organised by EuroEvents, together with SWIFT, the global provider of secure financial messaging.