April Fu is a Quantitative Portfolio Manager at Ping An of China Asset Management, Hong Kong. She was previously a Trader at Brilliance Capital Management and prior to that Head of Quant Research at Huaxun Investment. April holds a Masters of Science in Business Analytics from The Chinese University of Hong Kong.

Emily Liu currently works at Jump Trading LLC, focusing on APAC Data Strategy. Previously Emily was with Bloomberg LLP for over 8 years, where she managed data partnerships across China and Hong Kong. Emily studied at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

Robin Harding is the Asia Editor of the Financial Times and is responsible for coverage from Australia to Afghanistan, as well as writing personally on the fast-growing region in the world economy.

Previously an editorial writer, a Fed-watcher in Washington DC during the years after the financial crisis and the FT’s bureau chief in Tokyo, Robin combines his own perspective as an economics columnist with a reporter’s access to the politicians and policymakers in charge. He can offer a thought-provoking – and well-informed – perspective on developments affecting the Asian and the world economy.

Robin has lengthy experience as a keynote speaker and a moderator. He has been a panellist or moderated events at the IMF, the World Bank, several regional Federal Reserve banks and the Institute for International Finance. He has chaired contentious press conferences, which required firm control, as well as lighter-hearted events. He always tries to bring clarity and serve the audience.

Drawing on his experiences covering monetary policy and his years in Japan – where he interviewed prime minister Shinzo Abe several times – Robin can speak about some of the biggest trends shaping the modern world: ageing demographics and declining interest rates, as well as the growth of China, and the geopolitical tensions that are reshaping Asia.

Born in Durham, in the north of England, Robin has degrees in economics from the University of Cambridge and Hitotsubashi University. Before becoming a journalist, he worked in banking, asset management and public policy research.

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Alex heads Linklaters’ TMT practice in Hong Kong and China, specializing in data protection, cybersecurity, and digital regulatory matters across the financial services, fintech, and payments sectors.

He regularly advises some of the world’s biggest banks, asset managers and financial market infrastructure providers on multi‑jurisdictional privacy compliance, digital infrastructure risks, and high‑stakes regulatory matters – including the policy impact of emerging and disruptive technology, such as that relating to AI deployment, as well as the increasing convergence between technology, data and ESG.

Alex brings sector‑specific insight into how funds and financial institutions manage data, technology operations, and regulatory reviews, making him a trusted adviser to investment platforms, regulated entities, and funds with tech‑driven or cross‑border portfolios.

Alex’s practice also focuses on technology- and data-driven corporate M&A and strategic alliances and regulatory advisory matters in the APAC region. He is at the forefront of data privacy law and developments in Greater China and APAC, and has extensive experience advising clients in doing business in China and cross-border transactions with a China element.

For his work in AI, Alex was shortlisted for the FT Innovative Lawyers Asia-Pacific 2025 (Individual Practitioner) where he was recognised for his work in the use of AI in the firm and being part of efforts to shape discussions on AI regulation in China and Asia Pacific.

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Andre Kwok is a seasoned venture capitalist and family office advisor with deep industry experience in food & agriculture, clean energy commodities and smart city technologies, covering regions of Mainland China, Hong Kong, Southeast Asia and the Middle East.

Andrew is the RO and Executive Director of the board at BlackWing Asset Management where he has been managing its over business operation since 2024. He joined from Invesco where he served as Senior Portfolio Manager for their China A-share quantitative strategies.

Prior to joining Invesco, Andrew was Executive Director at MSCI where he led their quantitative research consulting for multifactor model and portfolio construction for institutional clients.

Before that, he was Vice President of Quant Equity Research at Pioneer Investments from 2007 to 2011. Andrew has 18 years of experience in asset management and equity quant modeling. He holds a Master's Degree in Financial Engineering and a Bachelor's Degree in Engineering from the National University of Singapore.

Bobby is the Research Analyst at Neudata. He focuses on Chinese consumer and TMT-related datasets and datasets in APAC emerging markets (or anything particularly interesting). He joined Neudata in November 2024.

Prior to Neudata, Bobby worked as an M&A analyst at Beam Reach Partners and a due diligence analyst at Refinitiv. Bobby holds a Master’s Degree in Finance from Simon Business School, University of Rochester.

Based in Hong Kong, Diana is responsible for the strategy and direction of various initiatives under this cross-markets division. Diana has over 20 years’ of experience across various countries, industries and sectors. Started as a lawyer working for private banks and for the financial sector regulator and then transitioned to specialize in European and Chinese decarbonisation policies and sustainable finance. During her career she has worked for the Central Bank of Bulgaria, various UK Government Departments and Agencies, the European Commission and European Member States, International Development Banks, Law Firms, multinationals, investors and asset managers assisting with the design, implementation, compliance and assessment of policies and regulations.

Diana was involved in design and further development of flagship European policies like the EU Emission Trading Scheme, setting up and implementing the EU renewable energy targets and the design and evaluation of financial mechanisms supporting key European Initiatives. During her 5 years in China she worked with regulators and policymakers from different sectors supporting international economic relations and multinationals’ business cases. Experienced public speaker and contributing to open or subscription-based policy and macroeconomic forecasting platforms.

She holds Master of Law (LLM) from Sofia University St. Kliment Ohridski, Master of International Law from University College of London (UCL) UK and Master of International Economic Relations from Sofia University of National and World Economy.

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Gary Yu is a managing director at Morgan Stanley, who joined the Firm in 2006 and leads the equity research coverage of Asia Internet and Telecoms. Gary and his team were ranked No. 1 for Telecoms for 12 conservative years (2014-25) in the Institutional Investors All-Asia Research poll and for 5 consecutive years (2021-25) for Internet. Gary has a BBA degree from Simon Fraser University in Canada. He holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation.

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Guanhao (Gavin) Feng focuses on tackling empirical challenges in asset pricing and FinTech by developing methodological solutions that leverage machine learning, generative AI, Bayesian statistics, and financial econometrics. His work has been published in leading journals, including the Journal of Finance, Journal of Financial Economics, Management Science, Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, and Journal of Econometrics.

He is the Principal Investigator for various external research grants, including the HKRGC ECS and GRF grants, as well as the NSFC Youth Science Fund. Gavin also serves as a Research Fellow at the Asian Bureau of Financial and Economic Research (ABFER) and an Associate Editor for journals such as Management Science and the Journal of Financial Econometrics. He has received several honors for his research, including awards from INQUIRE Europe, the Hong Kong Institute for Monetary and Financial Research, and the AQR Insight Award.

Gavin is an Associate Professor of Finance and Statistics at the City University of Hong Kong and the Director of the College of Business Research Centre of Fintech and Business Analytics (FBAC). He earned his Ph.D. and MBA from the University of Chicago in 2017.

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Helena is the Head of Asia Research at Neudata. She covers APAC alternative data suppliers with a particular focus on China. Prior to Neudata, Helena worked as sales operation manager at UBS Evidence Lab and alternative data product manager at 86 Research and Juwai.com. Helena has also worked at Pacific Epoch as Co-Head of Research and senior TMT analyst.

Helena holds a Master's degree in Political Economy of Late Development from the London School of Economics.

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Helina leads Protiviti’s Risk & Compliance and Internal Audit practices in Hong Kong. With over 25 years of experience across consulting and financial services, she has led complex initiatives spanning risk, regulatory compliance, finance, and operations. Her expertise covers AML/KYC, data privacy, data management, regulatory compliance, technology risk management, operation resilience and RegTech.

Prior to this, Helina held the position of transformation lead for finance and operations at various institutions including Nomura, Royal Bank of Scotland and Credit Sussie. Additionally, she served in consulting roles at two of the Big 4 firms. She holds the CPA Australia, Certified ESG Analyst (CESGA), Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA) and Project Management Professional (PMP) qualifications.

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