AIF’s target audience is the universe of chief and senior investment officers and board members of the world’s largest institutional asset owners, such as pension and superannuation plans and other retirement savings programmes, sovereign wealth funds, insurance companies, endowments, foundations and family offices.

The economic think tank AIF Global, an independent body, has launched a new Asia division, called AIF APAC.

The organisation will focus on institutional asset owner communities, particularly those based in the Asia-Pacific jurisdictions of South Korea, Australia, Japan, Singapore, and Hong Kong.

Yonsei University professor of finance, Sam Y Chung, will serve as the first head of AIF APAC. Professor Chung is based in Seoul, South Korea, the organisation said in a statement late last week.

“The APAC region is as dynamic and growing as any in the world, so adding this regional presence is the natural next step in AIF's goal of expanding to all of the world's major institutional money centres. Professor Chung's years of experience on investment advisory boards for NPS and Korea Post, his status as a respected finance academic and his physical presence in the APAC region make him an ideal choice to lead AIF's efforts there,” AIF's founder and CEO Brant Maller said.

AIF APAC held its inaugural annual investors' meeting in Seoul, South Korea, (pictured) in late March.

The initial founding faculty members of AIF APAC are 400 Capital Management, which specialises in investing in alternative credit; CBRE, the real estate investment firm, and GrowthCurve Capital, which specialises in investing in private equity.