HKML S7E3 - Meetup with HKDAS - Hedge Funds' Reaching for Beta + Asia Frontiers

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We are delighted to announce that our next meetup will be in cooperation with HKDAS.
Special thanks to our sponsor, HKDAS, for making this event happen.

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Speaker 1: Botao Wu

Topic: Monetary Policy and Hedge Funds' Reaching for Beta
Bio: Assistant Professor of Finance at CUHK Business School PhD from NYU Stern School of Business Research interests: Market liquidity, asset pricing and macro finance Invited as a panelist at the IOSCO/OECD Conference on Corporate Bond Markets.

Summary: Hedge funds adjust equity exposure based on prior-month monetary policy, decreasing (increasing) after expansionary (contractionary) moves. Funds with stronger responses yield higher returns, and skilled funds react more decisively. This aligns with the Fed Information Effect, suggesting funds use FOMC announcements to predict market trends, ruling out alternative explanations.
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Speaker 2: Ruchir Desai

Title: Why Asian Frontier Markets Should Not Be Ignored
Bio: He has been the Fund Manager of the award-winning AFC Asia Frontier Fund (Best Emerging Markets Equity Fund, Asian Investor Awards 2025) at Asia Frontier Capital since 2013. He specializes in frontier markets such as Bangladesh, Vietnam and Kazakhstan. Previously, he worked at Mumbai-based HandsOn Ventures LLC, a private equity firm focused on business services. He holds an MBA in Finance from CUHK Business School (with a fellowship at Duke University’s Fuqua School) and received his CFA charter in 2015. His expertise includes managing equity funds, frontier markets and private equity, combining academic rigor with practical investment experience.

Summary: Asian frontier markets like Iraq. Kazakhstan, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka have been among the world’s best performing stock markets in the last few years. Furthermore, Asian frontier markets like Bangladesh, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam have very favourable demographics backed by a young and growing population which is positive for future consumption and economic growth. The Asian frontier universe is going through a period of reforms which has not been seen before, and this bodes well for their future economic outlook.

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Time: Thursday, July 10th, 2025, 6:30 PM to 8:30 PM CST
Venue: iCube HKU
Address: 4005-07, 40/F, Two Exchange Square, Central, Hong Kong