The combined fund management business in Hong Kong has reached $16 trillion (around $2 trillion) of assets last year, a year-on-year surge of 27.2 per cent, with the jurisdiction the entry point of choice for international investors, figures show.

The combined fund management business in Hong Kong has reached $16 trillion (around $2 trillion) of assets last year, a year-on-year surge of 27.2 per cent, with the jurisdiction the entry point of choice for international investors, figures show.

The data is from the annual Fund Management Activities Survey released this week by the Securities and Futures Commission.

Contributions from overseas investors reached a historic high of $11.382 trillion, 72 per cent of the total fund management business.

Licensed asset management and fund advisory corporations continued to contribute the largest proportion of the combined asset management business. Their aggregate asset management and fund advisory businesses amounted to $11,788 trillion at the end of 2013, up 28.4 per cent from end-2012. Registered institutions recorded a 27.8 per cent increase in their aggregate asset management and other private banking businesses to $3.678 trillion at end-2013.
    
Insurance companies reported a 1.7 per cent increase in their assets under management to $364 billion at end-2013.

The assets of non-REIT (real estate investment trust) asset management business increased by 38.5 per cent to $11.417 trillion in 2013, the figures showed.

This year, a total of 555 institutions responded to the survey. They included 488 licensed asset management and fund advisory corporations, 47 registered financial institutions and 20 insurance companies.