Marc Fisher takes the reins at FRM Hong Kong

Fund of hedge funds firm FRM has moved Marc Fisher from its London headquarters to run its Hong Kong office. He replaces Au King Lun who left in the spring to join Bank of China Hong Kong as general manager and head of asset management.

FRM used to be a client of Fisher when he worked for Citi 10 years ago and helped to set up its fund derivatives marketing unit. He left Citi in 2008 to join FRM in London where he took the job of delivering FRM’s hitherto institutional expertise to high-net-worth individuals via the distribution networks of private banks.

That particular business was named Principia which seeks to provide transparency, reporting and liquidity matching to those private client investors who are on the look-out for a fund-of-hedge-funds portfolio. Perhaps most significantly, the product -- which launched in August 2009 -- has institutional-type costs in that it does not charge a performance fee, a characteristic that helps to generate a lot of interest. 

Fisher is responsible for another FRM product, Sigma, a fund of CTA/managed futures funds -- strategies he admits are a professional passion of his. 

Therefore he has retained his global responsibilities for both the Sigma and Principia products, with the Hong Kong leadership completing a hat-trick of present FRM roles.

Since his arrival this year, he has sought to build out the office, hiring Stacie Wang at associate level from Spanish firm BBVA, where she formerly worked in equity derivatives. At FRM Hong Kong, she reports to Sharon Pang and will work on the private bank distribution side.

Fisher plans to continue expanding the Hong Kong office to enhance its offering for manufacturing and tailoring products. A big area for potential growth in the Asian markets, he says, is for segregated portfolios, such as bespoke funds of hedge funds for institutions.