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(From left) Prof. Dragon TANG (Area Head of Finance), Mr. Henry CHAN (CIO of BEA Union Investment Management Limited), Dr. AU King-lun (CEO of Value Partners Group), and Prof. Anna WONG (Professor of Practice in Finance)

The Financial Services Development Council (FSDC) and the Faculty of Business and Economics of the University of Hong Kong jointly hosted a forum on 21 March 2019 to offer university students the opportunity to learn more about the current landscape and future trends of the financial services sector.

The forum, titled ‘Navigating Your Career in Financial Services – in the Right Place at the Right Time’, featured two keynote speakers from leading asset management firms – Dr. AU King-lun, Chief Executive Officer of Value Partners Group and Mr. Henry CHAN, Chief Investment Officer of BEA Union Investment Management Limited. Dr. Au is also a board member of FSDC.

At the forum, the two speakers explained how financial technology and innovation have dramatically transformed the financial services landscape.

With over 30 years of industry experience in asset management, Dr. Au said that new technology has created numerous jobs in the financial services industry such as programmers and IT specialists. However, he added that there are also growing opportunities for other non-IT related graduates. ‘Many asset management firms are looking for investment writers who not only can write perfectly in English and Chinese but also tell compelling stories of their products’, Dr. Au said. He continued to explain why communicating complex investment ideas in a dynamic fashion is a crucial aspect of driving customer engagement. ‘As we are now in the era of information explosion, getting the right message across to our customers on social media has become very important.’

Mr. Chan, who specialises in managing Asian equities, shared his story about how he got into the industry. ‘I joined the industry in 1995. China was hot and everyone wanted to become a China or Asian fund manager’, he said. He first started his career as an analyst. He then later was introduced an opportunity to be a Taiwan fund manager. ‘At that time, Taiwan was tiny, even Indonesia had a bigger index rating than Taiwan. There was no technology sector and 70 per cent of the market was insurance companies and banks.’ Despite some voices of disapproval from his peers, he accepted the job offer and managed the Taiwan fund well. He remarked that Taiwan opened many doors for him. He said, ‘Had I not done Taiwan, I would never have had the chance to become a Greater China manager’. He advised students to always stay prepared and be in the right place all the time.

The Practitioner Speaker Series is an initiative developed by the FSDC and local universities that offers students the opportunity to hear from industry experts and professionals in the financial services sector about their experience, latest topics and trends, and job prospects in the field.

For the video recording of the forum, please click here.