Global Markets
Mr. Zhu started his career at the ICBC headquarters. He holds a Master's degree in Science from the University of Edinburgh, UK, and a Bachelor's degree in Financial Engineering from Xiamen University. He began his fixed income trading and investment career at the ICBC HK Treasury Centre, which is based in Hong Kong.
He managed a $28 billion fixed income portfolio before taking charge of fixed income trading. He held various positions, including Prop Trader, Senior Prop Trader, Head of Trading, and Head of Credit Bonds Investment. The portfolio he managed included corporate and government bonds, with investment targets across all developed countries, all G7 currencies, and major sectors such as banks, TMT (technology, media, and telecommunications), and car manufacturers. He pursued absolute returns and achieved impressive investment results.
Mr. Zhu built the platform for the G7 bonds dealing desk on behalf of ICBC. He led his team in establishing comprehensive counterparty relationships with prominent Chinese institutional investors, sovereign investors from Southeast Asia and the Middle East, leading G7 bond issuers, and investment-grade bond dealers from the US, Europe, Australia, Japan, Korea, and Canada. These dealers included major firms such as Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Citigroup, HSBC, Barclays, BNP Paribas, Nomura, and other market participants.
Mr. Zhu led his team in supporting ESG bond issuance globally and facilitating the two-way flow of RMB bonds on behalf of ICBC headquarters, marking the introduction of the first batch of Southbound bond investments in the market.
Mr. Zhu has a comprehensive understanding of fixed income products, markets, competitors, and the regulatory environment. He is known as an extensive researcher and a senior portfolio manager, adept at identifying opportunities for portfolio enhancement under current market conditions. He has also been recognized as one of the most astute investors in Asian G3 Bonds for the past six consecutive years by Assets Asia.
Investment Experience - 20 years in quantitative trading and behavioral finance, held various essential positions in quantitative trading at Citi Bank, Standard Chartered, Barclay, etc. He is currently an adjunct professor at the Department of Economics and Finance at the City University of Hong Kong; was an assistant professor of finance at Singapore Management University, focusing on asset pricing, quantitative investment research , macro strategy, derivatives, and structured products, and risk management. Ph.D. in Finance from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, M.S. in Statistics from the University of Maryland, and a B.S. in Mathematics from the Fudan University.
Hao Hong, renowned economist, member of China Chief Economist Forum, and professor at the Graduate School of Finance, Renmin University of China. Former MD and Head of Research at BOCOM International, Chief Global Strategist at CICC, and worked in the London, New York, and Sydney offices of Citigroup and Morgan Stanley, among other international financial institutions.
Awarded “Person of the Year 2024” by Bloomberg BusinessWeek; “Economist of the Year” by Asian Private Banker in 2022 and 2023; Named one of the “Top 10 most influential Economists in China”, “Top 10 Economic Figures in China” by Sina Finance in 2023 and 2024; “Institutional Chief Economist of the Year” by Yicai First Fnancial in 2021,2023 and 2024;brand spokesman for the CFA Institute; Voted “No. 1 Economist and Strategist” by Asiamoney; rated 'the man who called China’s boom and bust' and 'the Most Accurate Strategist in China' by Bloomberg.
Hong's book titled 'The Forecast' is Winner of FT China’s 'Book of the Year', as well as Yicai’s and Tencent Finance’s “the Best Business Book of the Year”; awarded as 'Writer of the Year' by CITIC Press.
Private Equity
Investment Experience - 11 years; Kelvin used to work at top-tier financial institutions such as Synergis Capital, Happy Life Wealth Management Inc., and Artemis Group. He is also the co-founder of SnapPay Inc., a leading alternative payment gateway in North America.
Kelvin is a serial entrepreneur and active venture capital investor specializing in Fintech, consumer-tech, biotech, crypto, and AI, with a proven track record of outstanding investment performance. His notable investment portfolio includes Polestar, Popmart, Grin, Carbon Health, Zainar, Caresyntax, Vibrosonic GmbH, Lyte, Feon, SpaceX, and Huijing Limited (HK 9968).
Bachelor of Food Science and Marketing from McGill University, and MBA degree from Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto.
Investment Experience - 20 years; Co-Founder and Current Chairman of Shanghai YBL Incubator Fund Long-time investment expertise in technology, media, and telecom. Ph.D. in Media Industry Management, specializing in Management Science and Engineering, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, China, and MBA degree from Cardiff University, United Kingdom.
Alternative Investment / REITs
Founded EC Lending group and Green Rock Investment funds ( private debts) since 2010, a full Commerical and Mortgage lending company privately funded real estate portfolio lender offering alternative sources of financing to real estate developers and investors and focuses on a variety of borrowers and transaction types throughout California from apartment buildings and retail to industrial and real estate developments.
With her over 20+ years of experience in banking and lending fields since early 2000 she has successfully closed over 2500+ units loans and reaching over $1B in funding volume for both government sponsored loans and private financing.
At Cindy’s early stage of lending career before she started her owned firm , she had worked for Citibank for more than 10 years and awarded numbers of recognition in banking at national level, especially ranking as National Top 3 highest funding volume mortgage banker for decades. She is also one of the founding members of the 'Women Leadership in Philanthropy Fund (WLPF)' housed at the Asian Pacific Community Fund.
Cindy holds both Bachelor and Master degrees in Science from National Taiwan University, with focuses on global climate research and GPS systems development. She currently lives in Los Angeles.