Description
The international status of Hong Kong's financial sector has made the development of the domestic mutual fund industry quite different to that of the US and UK. Whereas the growth of funds under management in western countries has been spurred by local investors, the growth of funds under management in Hong Kong has come from overseas.
Industry-wide data is provided by the Hong Kong Investment Funds Association (HKIFA), whose members accounted for over 60% of the funds authorised in the SAR and an estimated 90% of total funds under management at the end of December 1997.
Total assets under management at the end of 1997 were US$80bn, according to a survey of 44 of the HKIFA's major members. This figure reveals the effects of the year's dramatic falls on regional stockmarkets, resulting from the Asian financial crisis, as it is 20% lower than the previous year's US$101bn. (These figures for funds under management include unit trusts. retirement scheme funds and funds from other sources that are managed by the Hong Kong office, but exclude life assurance funds.)