Following the successful inaugural annual conference hosted in 2007, the Hong Kong Investment Funds Association ("HKIFA") will hold its second annual conference in September this year, at the JW Marriott Hotel, Hong Kong.

The Hong Kong asset management industry is at an important stage of development - changes in the regulatory framework in Europe - more specifically the UCITS III regime - have major ramifications to the offshore fund markets. Hong Kong, being a leading offshore market, has been in the forefront in developing an optimal model to embrace the changes.

Changes, especially on the regulatory front, are also a prevailing theme in Asia. Many markets within the Region have been introducing reforms to their asset management industry, either by way of allowing more foreign participation in the domestic markets or allowing more offshore investments. This is best epitomized by the implementation of the Qualified Domestic Institutional Investors Scheme ("QDII") and the Qualified Foreign Institutional Investors Scheme ("QFII") in the Mainland.

In view of these, we hope that, through this conference, we can have an in-depth discussion of how international fund managers, in particular those based in Hong Kong can gear up for the challenges and capitalize on the opportunities provided. We have lined up more than twenty seasoned professionals who will provide invaluable insights to the discussion. We will walk through the value chain, from manufacturing to sales and distribution, from compliance to investor education; and examine how the ecosystem has been evolving in this dynamic environment.

Since last summer, the fall out in the global credit markets reverberates across the financial services industry. The asset management industry in Hong Kong has braced for the challenges with great resilience. In fact, the industry managed to attract record high fund sales in 2007, with gross and net sales of US$45,546 million and US$6,946 million respectively. However, market volatilities do accentuate the need for investor education and risk management as well as prompt managers to revisit the business models.

All these will be addressed at this year's conference which provides a platform for fund managers, trustees, lawyers, accountants, distributors and other related professionals from Hong Kong, the Mainland and overseas to flesh out the issues.

Event Highlights

• After the exponential growth of the Mainland capital markets, in particular, the asset management industry in the past two years - what's the outlook? what are the implications for international fund managers, in particular those who are based in Hong Kong?
• UCITS III - What are the key changes? Have the changes been bedded in? How do Hong Kong and other Asian jurisdictions embrace and capitalize on these changes?
• What are the key changes in the Asian asset management industry and how do these affect the dynamics of the markets, in particular the implications to international fund managers? What is the role of Hong Kong in this process?
• The MPF market in Hong Kong - employee choice: is the community prepared for this? Is the industry at an inflexion point?

Who Should Attend

Asset Allocators CEOs,CFOs,CIOs Compliance Officers Custodians & Administrators Distributors Family Offices/Endowments/Foundations Finance Directors Financial Planners Fund Managers

Institutional Sales Investment Advisors Investment Consultants Legal Practitioners Private Bankers Product Managers Regulators Trustees Wealth Managers

This event is organized by the Hong Kong Investment Funds Association ("HKIFA"). Euro Events Management Co. Ltd ("EuroEvents") has been appointed as the event manager of this Conference to collect payments and handle registrations. For more information, please contact EuroEvents at (852) 2810-8321.

The Hong Kong Investment Funds Association (HKIFA) is a professional body that represents the asset management industry in Hong Kong. We have two major roles, namely the promotion of Hong Kong managed investment products and consultation with the authorities to relay the views of our members on issues that have implications for the asset management industry. Our objective is to enable Hong Kong people to understand more about the characteristics of mutual funds; and to use them effectively for retirement investment and other financial planning purposes. We have 45 fund management companies as full/overseas members. They manage about 1,220 SFC-authorized funds as at the end of March 2008, involving total assets of close to US$755 billion. We also have 56 affiliate and associate members. (www.hkifa.org.hk).

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