The shifting regulatory landscape across the industry is prompting companies to continue diversifying. The latest move by one of the regional heavyweights in the APAC region, Invast Global, is to open a new office location in Hong Kong.
The new subsidiary with a core team of six people who possess strong knowledge of the local landscape is part of the management’s plans to aggressively expand in the next 12 months and beyond.
“The initial focus will be to engage top-tier local talent to build out our existing network of hedge fund, asset management and brokerage clients,” elaborated to Finance Magnates the CEO of Invast Global (Hong Kong), Marcus Fung.
In his new role, Fung will continue to build the company’s strong presence in the region. He was previously based at Invast Global in Sydney, Australia as the Head of Prime Services (Asia). Nick Briscoe is currently holding the Global Head of Prime Services role.
Prior to that, Fung spent over five years working at Japanese brokers including Invast Securities Co., Ltd. in Tokyo. Born in Guangzhou, but raised and educated in Hong Kong and Japan, Marcus is a multi-lingual technology specialist with close ties to the local community.
Regional Expansion Focus
Invast Global is strongly committed to further regional expansion. The Hong Kong office is to be followed by more locations in Asia as the company finds the region to be the ideal place for technology-focused service providers. The company already has a presence in Shanghai.
"Asia remains a firm focus of Invast Global due to the concentration of high-quality hedge funds and asset managers that are supported by a stable regulatory landscape," explained Fung.
Invast Global is looking to deliver a full suite of Multi-Asset Prime Services in Hong Kong, initially supported by the Australian and Japanese based entities. The company already submitted for Type 1-2 licenses with the SFC with plans for more in the near future.
"We are closely observing the developments of the SFC with respect to the Type 11 and 12 licenses," shared the CEO of Invast Global (Hong Kong).
Regulatory Shift Opens New Opportunities
Elaborating on the launch of the company’s office in Hong Kong, the CEO of Invast Global, Gavin White, elaborated that demand for alternatives to traditional global investment bank offerings will continue to accelerate.
He sees recent regulatory reforms and outdated legacy technology systems continuing to constrain the ability of banks to evolve and compete.
Invast Global’s CEO also shared his view that Hong Kong is a hotbed of start-up and emerging hedge funds and brokerages.
“We believe this dynamic and exciting market strongly complements our trademark, responsive and high-tech approach and we look forward to giving Hong Kong’s innovative businesses an alternative to the traditional bank-based Prime Broker service offerings,” White stated.
