Fund Management
Hong Kong, Luxembourg Agree To Create Mutual Funds Recognition Accord

The jurisdictions have inked a deal under which funds from both locations can be offered, sold and distributed to clients in each region, a pattern of co-operation seen in a number of countries around the world.
The Securities and Futures Commission of Hong Kong and the
Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier of Luxembourg
yesterday signed a memorandum of understanding to build a mutual
funds recognition regime.
“Luxembourg and Hong Kong have a long-standing tradition of
cooperation. In recognition of the strength and quality of the
UCITS regulatory framework, as well as the level of investor
protection that it offers, many asset managers in Hong Kong have
established UCITS funds which they have managed and distributed
in the EU or in Asia for quite some time,” Denise Voss, chairman
of the Association of Luxembourg Funds Industry, said.
“This MoU will prove very useful to asset managers and will help
to deepen the existing bonds between the two jurisdictions,” Voss
said.
(Editor's note: Ironically, the announcement comes on a
day when UK parliamentarians are due to vote on the government’s
proposed way of leaving the European Union. A key debating point
in the UK financial services sector are concerns that the UK
could be frozen out of a post-Brexit fund management sector. The
fact that jurisdictions such as Luxembourg and Hong Kong (which
is n’o in the EU) can sign MoUs to encourage mutual fund
recognition regimes might suggest that some of those worries are
misplaced.)