AFG’s Export Club had the opportunity to meet with prominent representatives from the Paris office of the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC) – Christopher Lai, Director of the Paris office, and Joyce Chan, Marketing Manager – at its premises on 27 August 2025.
The discussions, attended by Stéphanie Fournel, Vice-President of the Export Club and Director of International Development at Lazard Frères Gestion, Virginie Buey, Director of International Promotion at the AFG, and Yves Tambour, Managing Director of the Group and Partner at Fundglobam, were particularly constructive, opening up new prospects for fruitful collaboration.
Key points:
- The AFG has long-standing ties with its sister association in Hong Kong, the HK Investment Funds Association, represented by its Chief Executive, Sally Wong.
- The Hong Kong financial centre, one of Asia’s largest financial hubs, remains difficult to access, despite the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in September 2017 by the AMF and the SFC, in which the AFG actively participated, aimed at facilitating cross-border distribution.
- Trilateral exchanges between the AFG’s Export Club and key local players, during their visits to Paris or on the sidelines of events organised by the HKTDC, will be set up to facilitate understanding of this market and how it works.
These exchanges also aim to facilitate the development of cross-border activities by French management companies with regulators, through concrete proposals for action, such as ‘fast track’ procedures to reduce the currently lengthy and sometimes discouraging registration process, as well as the associated costs.
The Export Club is chaired by Simon Janin, Global Head of Public & Regulatory Affairs at AXA Investment Managers, and led by Delphine de Chaisemartin, Deputy Chief Executive of the AFG, and Virginie Buey, Director of International Promotion.
