NEWS
ICI Global builds up Asia presence with Hong Kong office
25 February 2013
Category:
News, Asia, Global, Hong Kong
By Asia Asset Management
ICI Global – a trade organisation focused on regulatory, market, and other issues for global investment funds, their managers, and investors – is opening an office specifically focused on the fast-growing Asia-Pacific region. The office, which complements ICI Global’s London headquarters, will be based in Hong Kong.
Qiumei Yang has been named executive vice president, head of Asia Pacific for ICI Global, and will oversee the organisation’s operations in the region. Ms. Yang comes to ICI Global from the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKEx), where she serves as head of Mainland development. Ms. Yang played a critical role in the exchange’s business development and assisted in HKEx’s acquisition of the London Metal Exchange. Her career also includes ten years at the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC), in successive roles as a commissioner on the planning commission, deputy director general for the department of international affairs, and deputy director general for the department of investment fund supervision.
“Transnational regulatory efforts affecting funds have become the norm: it is crucial the dialogue shaping such regulations fully include voices from the dynamic, diverse markets within the Asia-Pacific Region,” said ICI Global Managing Director Dan Waters. “Qiumei is ideally positioned to organise and raise this voice with relevant authorities. She is an accomplished expert in both policy and market development, with a global career spanning three continents.”
Ms. Yang said the growing need for a pan-Asian voice of the fund industry drew her to ICI Global. “The perspective of Asia-based funds and their investors will enrich and improve the global regulatory dialogue,” she remarked. “And the extraordinary growth of the asset management sector in many Asian locales, such as China, provides impetus for ICI Global to deepen and strengthen its presence in the region. Funds are becoming an increasingly common and important tool for Asian investors. It’s natural that fund managers would share more information and insights, and shape a common stance on pressing policy issues.”
While at the CSRC, Ms. Yang was very active within the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO), serving on IOSCO’s standing committee on investment management, and chairing the working group on investment funds in the IOSCO emerging markets committee. As a PhD economist, she has taught at universities in the United States and Latvia, and for several years worked as a consultant to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
ICI Global will commence its local operations in Hong Kong on May 1, 2013.
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