Hong Kong & APAC
Quantitative Finance — Hong Kong & APAC Coverage
Bayes Group covers the senior quantitative finance market across Hong Kong, Singapore, Tokyo, and Sydney from its New York office — market intelligence, compensation advisory, and senior search coverage built on seven years in the region.
Founded in Hong Kong
Bayes Group was founded in Hong Kong in 2020, by a founder who spent seven years based in the city — leading an Asia-Pacific quantitative finance search practice and placing senior portfolio managers, heads of trading, and quant research leaders across Hong Kong, Singapore, Sydney, and Tokyo. The firm is now headquartered in New York, and APAC remains the deepest part of the network — covered today through advisory work, market intelligence, and the senior relationships that seven years in the city built.
Genuine senior coverage in the region is rare. Much of what is sold as APAC search runs out of London or New York on a database and a time difference. The PM and quant-researcher layer in Hong Kong and Singapore is a small market that talks. Knowing who actually runs a book, who is approaching the end of a payout cycle, and who would take a call requires years in the room. We have them.
Why APAC Search Is Different
Notice periods, visas, and two cities with different economics
Notice periods are the first structural difference. Senior PMs and researchers in Hong Kong commonly carry three to six months of notice, and garden leave on top of it is standard at the platform level. A search plan that assumes New York timing breaks in Asia. The candidate's contractual reality has to anchor the timeline from the first conversation, and an experienced adviser prices it in before the client falls in love with a start date.
Visas are the second. Hong Kong's employment visa remains straightforward for senior hires with a sponsoring employer, and the IANG arrangement keeps locally educated talent in the market. Singapore's Employment Pass has tightened under the COMPASS framework. Where a candidate can legally work, and how quickly, now shapes APAC shortlists in a way it did not five years ago.
Compensation splits by city. Hong Kong and Singapore are both low-tax relative to London or New York, but the packages differ in shape: formula payouts tied to book P&L dominate at the Hong Kong platform tier, while Singapore offers often weight base and discretionary bonus differently. A like-for-like number comparison across the two cities misleads. The structure has to be read alongside the figure, and reading it correctly is part of what a regional specialist is for.
What We Cover
India D1 & Index Arbitrage
Senior PMs running India D1, index-arbitrage, and related access-product strategies. This is among the most supply-constrained seats in the region; the credible candidate pool is counted in dozens, and most of it sits in Hong Kong and Singapore.
Asia Long/Short Equity
Sector and country specialists across Greater China, Japan, and pan-Asia books, at platform pods and single-manager funds alike. Payout-cycle timing and pod economics decide when these candidates can actually move.
Statistical Arbitrage & Mid-Frequency QR
Quant researchers and sub-PMs in stat-arb and mid-frequency equity strategies, where Asia trading hours and local market microstructure knowledge are part of the edge itself.
Options & Volatility
Index and single-stock volatility PMs and traders covering APAC derivatives markets, from market-making desks through to platform vol books.
Macro
Discretionary macro PMs trading Asia rates and FX, both seated in the region and covering it from London or New York.
Platform Build-Out Leadership
Heads of trading, country and regional heads, and the senior leadership a fund needs when it opens or expands a Hong Kong or Singapore office.
How We Work
Candidates move through our process anonymized first. A client sees the track record, the strategy shape, and the mandate fit before any name attaches to the profile. Names are released under agreed terms, and only then. In a market this small, that discipline is what lets senior people talk to us at all.
Discretion runs in both directions. We do not circulate CVs, we do not shop a candidacy to generate market colour, and we do not disclose client names. The senior end of the APAC quant market is small enough that everyone eventually learns how a search firm behaved on its last mandate. Our practice is designed to survive that scrutiny.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does senior APAC quant coverage actually include?
Senior revenue-generating seats and the leadership above them: portfolio managers in India D1 and index arbitrage, Asia long/short equity, statistical arbitrage, options and volatility, and macro, plus the quant researchers behind those books and the heads of trading that platforms need when they build out in Hong Kong or Singapore. The work runs from New York; we do not run junior or high-volume sourcing.
Do you advise on moves into and out of Hong Kong?
Yes, in both directions. Cross-border mandates, run from our New York office, are a standard part of the practice: into Hong Kong from London and New York, within APAC across Singapore, Sydney, and Tokyo, and out of the region into US and Gulf seats. Cross-border moves carry visa, tax, and family considerations, and we plan them into the search timeline from the first conversation rather than discovering them late.
Which strategies are hiring in APAC right now?
Demand is steadiest in India-linked strategies, Asia long/short equity, and volatility. Multi-strategy platforms continue to add pods in the region, and several are expanding Hong Kong and Singapore offices in parallel. Macro hiring is selective and tracks the rates cycle. The picture moves quarter to quarter; our Insights notes carry the current read.
How is an APAC search different from a US or London search?
Three things compound. Notice periods at the senior level commonly run three to six months, with garden leave on top at the platform tier. Visa logistics shape who can start and when, in both Hong Kong and Singapore. And compensation structures differ between the two cities in ways a headline number hides. The practical effect is that APAC searches reward early planning and punish improvisation.
Discuss an APAC search
Whether you are a fund building out in Hong Kong or Singapore, or a senior professional weighing a move within the region or into it, we welcome a confidential conversation.
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