Blog

Financial markets are essential for economic growth and to provide investments for people’s futures. Well-functioning markets rely on confidence in how these markets are managed and education of the public is essential in this eco-system. SEIML strongly supports educating the public in finance and how to invest wisely.

Start-ups and the Three Core Competencies

Jun 1, 2025
Having worked in industry, professional education, academic teaching and now co-leading the Hong Kong chapter of Founder Institute, I am constantly reflecting on what it takes to make a start-up successful. There are, of course, many things and they vary with each situation. But I believe the ‘core competencies’ and time in both development and, also, go to market are critical issues that I want to address here.

Founders must be Masters of Three Universes

Mar 10, 2025
In my forty-five years in industry, I have spent 33 of it in industry and the other 12 in academic and professional education. I enjoy both sides of the street and think there is value in having both perspectives.

Demystifying the web bot threat

Nov 21, 2024
I have heard the word ‘bot’ for a long time now and had a vague idea of what they were – at least I thought so. More recently, I attended a pitch event in Hong Kong with a delegation of ‘tech companies’ from the UK presenting. One of the companies was led by a Founder, Nigel Bridges, a company involved with cyber security. We later met up and talked in more depth about his work and this article draws mainly from that meeting.

Start-ups, education and Asia

Jul 27, 2024
It has been a long and winding road for me, investment banking in Toronto, NY and London for over 20 years. Then, university teaching of investment management in UK and China. And for the last 8 years, working with early-stage companies in Asia. But there has been one constant, always having one leg in industry and one in education/training.

Revisiting 'the bezzle'​

Jun 10, 2022
We have gone through over a dozen years of very high economic growth and massive market appreciation; some would argue, largely debt-fueled. But with several big ‘shocks to the system’, zero-COVID policies, Russian invasion of Ukraine, Brexit and, now, Fed tightening, could it be that we are entering a sustained period of recession? Time to revisit ‘the bezzle’.

Covid-19: don't shake hands

Feb 22, 2020
On the 20th February I participated in a Webinar on COVID-19 as shown in the title slide above. Thanks to the host Felix Moesener, Science Consul, Swissnex and the two guest speakers, Dr Christian Althaus (University of Bern) and Dr Pietro Vernazza (Cantonal Hospital St. Gallen). It was very informative.

SEIML: Industry 4.0, Germany and China

Dec 4, 2019
Working with SMEs in many industries, healthcare, ‘smart manufacturing’, automotive, I am seeing how technology is dramatically changing those industries. Participating in a recent conference in Frankfurt, Germany gave me real insights into Industry 4.0 there and the potential for its application here in China.

Article 15: Understanding the Yield Curve

Oct 10, 2019
This is our fifteenth Article and the third of five of a ‘mini-series’ on bond markets. In China, individual…

Article 14: Valuing Bond and Money Market Instruments

Aug 12, 2019
This is our fourteenth Article and the second of five of a ‘mini-series’ on bond markets. In China, individual…

Article 13: Investing in Debt Markets and Instruments

Aug 1, 2019
This is our thirteenth Article and the first of five of a ‘mini-series’ on bond markets. In China, individual…

Benny Cao, CFA

Manager, Investment Management

benny.cao@seiml.com

Benny has worked in the financial markets of China with an emphasis on fixed income, currency and asset-liability management.  He is currently Vice President of Longly Capital, a medium-sized, Ningbo-based private fund management company. The firm’s strategies include various types of fixed income portfolio management and convertible bond portfolio management. In addition, Benny offers financial investment services to professional investors such as Fund of Funds (FoF) of securities companies, enterprise investors and high net worth (HNW) individuals.

Benny has also been active on the commercial side of the securities business managing client business development strategies, marketing programmes and roadshows and developing and delivering financial markets training programmes for small and medium-sized banks and other financial institutions.

Benny is fluent in Mandarin, English and Japanese.

Jina Zhu, CFA Institute, Investment Foundations

Manager, Corporate Relations

jina.zhu@seiml.com

Since returning from graduate studies in France to China in spring of 2014, Jina has been continually working in the field of e-commerce and its applications to the financial, entertainment and automotive industries. She is a multi-functional talent and fluent in Mandarin, English and French.

Jina is SEIML’s key relationship manager between foreign clients and the Chinese administrative authorities and has held many responsibilities dealing with international companies and executives operating in China.  As a result, she manages all of the company’s Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) activities with clients

With her graduate degree in economics and completion of the Investment Foundations certificate from CFA Institute, she has the knowledge to assist foreign companies in China market research, including reviews of potential customers, suppliers or other third parties.  She is also quite savvy in the use of Chinese social media.

Jina is fluent in Mandarin, English and French.

John D. Evans, CFA

Founder & Director

john.evans@seiml.com

John spent the first 24 years of his career in investment banking, first in Toronto, briefly in New York and then London.  He was involved in DCM, ECM and strategic investment advisory to large funds in EMEA.

In 2004 he moved into academia and designed and ran MSc programs in investment management at universities in the UK and China. He also created and managed one of the larger financial professional training organizations in Europe while at the UK university (that was a JV partner in the training firm).

In 2016, John returned to industry to work with start-ups and various platforms and eco systems to support these early and middle stage companies. Initially he pursued this venture in the Shanghai region but then moved to Hong Kong in 2024 to build SEIML’s footprint in Southeast Asia. John is also a Director of the Hong Kong Founder Institute (FI) eco system and Program Director for the FI ASEAN Fintech accelerator.