Yiting Shen

To mark the recent 30th World Book Day, I was pleased to take part in a reading initiative led by the Heilongjiang Provincial Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC). I recorded a short video in Chinese recommending one of the most fascinating books I’ve read in recent years: The Creativity Code: How AI is Learning to Write, Paint and Think by Oxford mathematician Marcus du Sautoy. This insightful book invites readers to explore the very nature of creativity - what makes it uniquely human - and how it intersects with artificial intelligence. Far from suggesting that AI will replace human ingenuity, du Sautoy introduces the concept of AI as a “cognitive telescope,” a tool that can help us see further and unlock new dimensions of imagination, art, and innovation. A bestseller in many major bookstores, The Creativity Code delves into the mathematical structures behind creative expression, and how algorithms might not compete with us, but collaborate - by enhancing our ability to think, invent, and create. In my video reflection (in Chinese), I share my thoughts on the book’s relevance to the future of creativity and human-machine partnership. I encourage others to read this timely work, and to reflect on how AI might become a powerful ally in our quest for artistic and intellectual discovery. 在剛過去的第三十個世界讀書日，我積極響應黑龍江省政協的號召，在此向大家推薦由牛津大學著名數學家馬庫斯·杜·索托伊(Marcus du Sautoy)撰寫的《天才與算法：人腦與AI的數學思維》這本書，並用音頻記錄了我閱讀此書的一些感想。 這本書作為近年來各大書店的熱門讀物，不僅引導讀者認知人類創造力的本質，還深入探索了算法、數學思維和藝術創作之間的關係。杜·索托伊並不認為AI會取代人類，相反，它可能成為大家的「思維望遠鏡」，他在書中為未來人類與機器的共生關係描繪了一個更加積極的願景，引發讀者對人工智能對創造力未來意義的深思。 --- #WorldBookDay #AI #Creativity #Innovation #FutureThinking #DrJohnnyHon #GlobalGroupHK #世界讀書日 #人工智能 #創新 #藝術 #數學 #韓世灝 #高寶集團

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Leadership Lessons from Ida Liu ✨ : A Masterclass with Citi Global Wealth’s Global Head of Private Banking Fabia Firoze says " Ida, I fully agree with you that we must work collectively to ensure women are managing at least 50% of all venture capital funds globally. As an emerging manager and venture capitalist, I believe it’s essential to bring visionary women leaders like you onto our board during capital formation and fund deployment. Your leadership can help shape a more inclusive investment landscape—one that actively empowers women fund managers and accelerates the growth of women-owned businesses. We would be honored to have you as a board member and a guiding force on this mission to become the next unicorn. Thank you for answering my question. 🙏 " Transcript: Fabia asked Ida " As an emerging manager and venture capitalist, what strategic steps can we take to meaningfully increase venture capital funding directed toward women-led firms and support more women in fund management roles? Currently, women manage only 2% of all venture capital funds—a stark disparity that calls for systemic change. Ida responded " Okay, Fabia. I am so happy that you asked that question because that is, such a gap, in the marketplace today when only two to 3% of venture funding goes to female founders and entrepreneurs. I mean, just think about that for a second. So, again, there is a real gap, there are real bias, a real challenge that I see, frankly, that many see, and I hope that we can do our part to help bridge that gap, in the coming years ahead. And that's gonna take all of us collectively putting our money and our dollars where we think we it can make sense. It goes back to the value based investing that I talked about earlier. We have the power, all of us collectively, women, have the power to make a difference. We just have to make sure that we're, you know, we're putting our dollars where where we wanna make the difference. And by the way, it's by no means asking you to trade off on returns. It is a huge opportunity to invest in talented generation of women leaders and CEOs who I think are gonna be phenomenal, phenomenal, unicorns and and growth drivers in the future. So it's a huge area. It's a huge area of focus for me, and I hope that we can bridge that gap in the coming years ahead." The WIE Suite Citi Dee Poku Spalding Fortuna Future Ventures #venturecapital #privateequity #fundmanger #Smallbusiness #Impact #Unicorn #Innovation #capitalformation

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The Three Models of Asian Shareholder Activism "The modern governance playbook requires a tailored approach, one that recognizes that activism in Tokyo is motivated by fundamentally different reasons from activism in Seoul or Singapore. "Japan - Because political defenses are fading, the battlefield has shifted entirely to the financial. Investors are focused on balance sheet efficiency and capital allocation. South Korea - The primary engine of this change is the government’s “Corporate Value-Up Program,” which has effectively deputized investors to enforce national policy. Singapore - In Singapore, the rules of activist engagement are dictated by simple math. Unlike in the United States, many listed companies here are majority-owned by a single family or a state-linked entity, meaning the “insiders” often hold more than 50% of the votes. Because of this structural “blocker,” activists have moved away from general popularity contests. Instead, a distinct new trend has emerged where investors target specific moments of failure — operational crises, debt defaults or lowball offers — where the board loses the moral authority to lead and the “insider” math stops protecting them." #governancearbitrage #asiangovernance #corporategovernance #boardsofdirectors #activistinvesting https://lnkd.in/grTWFbtr

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We forecast Non-QM MBS issuance climbing to ~$80bn with prime jumbo at ~$40bn. While CRT issuance should be up marginally YoY on slightly higher agency gross issuance, we expect limited net issuance to continue to support spreads here. The other area where we expect to see increased issuance is second liens. As home prices stay near record levels and mortgage rates remain stubbornly high, we have seen a growing amount of home equity withdrawal, though absolute levels remain well shy of prior peaks (Exhibit 31). We don't envision rates coming down far enough to drive cash-out refis over second liens as the preferred method of equity extraction.

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The energy in the room was palpable as we prepared to recognise the winning teams at the HKUST MSc in Business Analytics. Watching Young Students deconstruct the needs of their own peers is a powerful reality check. Throughout 2023, we focused on a mission that is as complex as it is vital. We had to identify the factors that will define the "International Student" segment for the years ahead. For eight intensive weeks, these digital natives immersed themselves in the intersection of Personal Banking, Data, and CLCM. Working alongside Amy Hui and these students, I saw a level of rigor that was truly inspiring. They didn't just look at the numbers. They built data-driven personas that mapped the dual-reality of a student moving across borders. We looked at the complexity of the "Home Country" needs. The relationship with parents, the funding of the future, and the security of the source. We looked at the "Host Country" needs. The immediacy of daily payments, the local integration, and the friction of arriving in a new financial ecosystem. This collaboration wasn't just academic. It provided the deep insights needed to strengthen our approach to International Students. It ensured this mobile and ambitious segment is being attended with precision today. My realisations from that journey: 1/ Data is the foundation, but empathy is the architect. ↳ In CLCM, we can predict a cross-border transaction with high accuracy. But if we don't understand the specific life stress of a student landing in a new country, we haven't actually solved anything. 2/ Seamlessness is the new gold standard. ↳ The most brilliant solutions for international banking aren't the most complex. They are the ones that feel invisible, bridging the gap between home and host without friction. 3/ Personal Banking must be "Human-Led, Tech-Powered." ↳ The winning teams didn't let the data think for them. They used it to clear the path so they could focus on the "Meaning" of the customer experience. The "Route to Ithaca" is about constant learning. Having served on the Advisory Board for this programme since 2022, I am incredibly proud to see how we are architecting the systems of tomorrow to ensure they are built for significance, not just speed. Special recognition to Lancelot F. James, the Director of the MSc programme. He is a disruptive leader who is truly taking HKUST MSc Data Business to the next level. It is an honour to collaborate with such forward-thinking academic architects. #PersonalBanking #InternationalStudents #GlobalMobility #CLCM #HKUST #RouteToIthaca #CrossBorderBanking #Leadership #DataBusiness

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We’re excited to announce the upcoming launch of the Finally Fund Admin Emerging Fund Manager Program (First Session Starts Sept 29th, New Sessions Start Quarterly, Each Group Stays One Year) — a major opportunity not just for 10 new fund managers, but also for the wider VC and syndicate ecosystem. This program will connect and empower emerging venture capital and syndicate leaders, creating unique access for those who support the industry — including portals, law firms, service providers, nonprofits, endowments, universities that want to secure spots for students or grad students, tech platforms that have benefited from VC, conferences, family offices, and LPs who want a first look at the funds in the program. There are many reasons to get involved — from driving innovation and building relationships to creating unique sponsorship or partnership opportunities. If you’re interested, email me at jenna@finallyfundadmin.com and let’s discuss the possibilities. #Sponsorship #Funds #VC #EmergingManagers #Opportunities #ServiceProviders

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Will the secondary markets ever become a traded market like the bank loan market? We sat down with private markets veteran and Partner, Global Head of Vintage Strategies, External Investing Group (XIG) at Goldman Sachs Asset Management Harold Hope to discuss the rapid growth and evolution of the secondary market. In the latest Alt Goes Mainstream AGM Unscripted podcast, Harold and I had a fascinating conversation about the nuances of the secondary market and what the future of secondaries might look like: ➡️ Perspectives from Harold’s early days in secondaries 25 years ago, when Goldman had raised its first $400M fund in secondaries and when the secondaries industry was doing around $2B per year in transaction volume. ➡️ The evolution of innovation in the secondaries market. ➡️ Why problem-solving is a defining feature of secondaries. ➡️ What is the right skillset required to be a great secondaries investor? ➡️ Why secondaries is fundamentally a valuation oriented business. ➡️ Are secondaries returns driven by buying high-quality assets or by buying at steep discounts? ➡️ Misconceptions about continuation vehicles and how the trend of private companies staying private longer impacts CVs. ➡️ The how and the why behind Goldman’s recent acquisition of Industry Ventures and why Goldman is excited about the opportunity set in venture and growth secondaries. ➡️ Why scale matters in secondaries. ➡️ Why secondaries might not become a traded market like the bank loan market and why secondaries may not fully achieve standardization because managers may not want completely uniform standardization. ➡️ Why secondaries can be an on-ramp to private markets for private wealth investors. Thanks Harold for sharing your wisdom, expertise, and passion about secondaries and private markets. https://lnkd.in/evTHaVDG

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Asia’s Youth: The Engine of Global Growth I attended the Barclays Asia Forum a couple of weeks back (thank you Barclays Andrew Ashman & Lu Zhang) and saw this incredible chart from Dr. Parag Khanna from AlphaGeo. When we talk about the future, we’re really talking about people—and Asia has 3 billion young individuals across Gen Y, Gen Z, and Gen Alpha. That’s more than 7x the youth population of the United States and Europe! For Limited Partners, this shouldn't just be a demographic statistic or consumption trends, it’s creating an unprecedented need for infrastructure investments. Urbanization, digital connectivity, transportation networks, and sustainable energy systems will all need to scale rapidly to support this population. Allocating capital to Asia isn't optional, it should be strategic! #KeppelCredit #Keppel #PrivateCredit #DirectLending #InfrastructureFinance #InfrastructureInvesting #AsiaRising #EmergingMarkets #Barclays

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Skyro Empowers SMEs with 30% Growth Boost Through Embedded Financing at PHILSME Expo 2025 (L-R) Skyro head of SME Mike Tabaday, Landi managing director (SEA&NA) Samantha Ng and Sterling consulting president Lovely Villanueva. Unlocking access to credit is proving to be a game-changer for SMEs fueling business growth by a minimum of 30%, and in some cases by as much as 4x to 5x, according to #Skyro. Speaking at the Philippine SME Business Expo 2025, one of the country’s premier events for entrepreneurs and startups, Skyro shared new data showing how embedded financing is helping small retailers scale faster and reach previously untapped markets. “Our data has shown that whenever we do a partnership with a store, their sales volume goes up by a minimum of 30 percent. We help bring in unique customers in terms of scoring because we’re able to provide them loans that allow customers to avail of products,” explained Mike Tabaday, Skyro head of SME. Customers enjoy multiple benefits through Skyro’s seamless onboarding experience. Tabaday further explained, “We provide a seamless experience to customers. All they need to do is download the app online, apply for a loan, and then get approved.” He also stressed that customers who prefer to apply onsite can do so through Skyro’s partners nationwide. “We have partnered with the biggest retailers nationwide and just as proudly, with small local businesses, including those in rural communities.” Seeing the steady growth of Skyro’s partner merchants as well as the seamless buying journey of customers, Tabaday sees that Skyro is on the right track in strengthening its mission of providing hope, happiness, and financial support to many more Filipinos. “It’s so fulfilling to see this company grow. By expanding our reach through our partner stores — from major retail chains to small community outlets   we’re able to support more Filipinos by making loans more accessible nationwide.” Introduced in the country in August 2022, Skyro has quickly earned a reputation for its innovative digital financial services. It is now present in over 4,500 partner merchant stores nationwide with more than 430,000 active product loan customers. Skyro’s participation in PHILSME Business Expo 2025 is part of its expansion journey. This year, the expo drew over 12,000 attendees, with strong exposure for Skyro throughout the two-day event. The expo allowed Skyro to gain quality leads from retail stores, services, community-based businesses, and payment providers.  During the event, Skyro also mounted its booth that drew in hundreds of attendees. The booth offered 1,000 cups of ice cream for free, as well as other quality giveaways, and exciting booth experiences. To know more about Skyro, download the app for free on Apple Store for iPhone users and Google Play for Android users or visit https://www.skyro.ph/ and follow its social media accounts, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and...

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One of the most important conversations I heard in Davos today wasn’t about more AI. It was about whether we trust the systems we’re building enough to deploy them at scale. At a Rethinking Risk session at Davos 2026, leaders from media, government, multilateral institutions, and global finance kept circling the same concern: the erosion of trust. The conversation included Ravi Agrawal, Editor-in-Chief, Foreign Policy; Rebeca Grynspan, Secretary-General, UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD); Amer Bisat, Minister of Economy and Trade, Republic of Lebanon; Amb. Yusuf Maitama Tuggar, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Federal Republic of Nigeria; Stephanie von Friedeburg, Managing Director & Global Head of Public Sector, Citi. Across very different vantage points, the message was consistent: misinformation, selective or low-quality data, and a growing post-truth environment are undermining consensus, multilateralism, and sound risk analysis. When trust erodes: — due diligence weakens — uncertainty rises and risk premia increase — fact-based decision-making breaks down for governments and businesses alike The key takeaway: AI doesn’t fail at deployment because the models aren’t powerful enough. It fails when the systems around it aren’t trusted. Rebuilding trust isn’t just a technical challenge. It requires rigorous verification and higher-quality data; transparent analytics and governance; and inclusive, cross-stakeholder consensus-building. As the World Economic Forum continues to emphasize, trust isn’t a soft value layered onto innovation. It’s a prerequisite for scale, resilience, and long-term economic coordination. If we want AI to reduce risk rather than amplify it, we have to start by designing systems people and institutions can trust. That may be the hardest work ahead. And also the most important.

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Thank you CNBC for the opportunity to share perspectives on the recent UK tech week and innovation more broadly. The appetite for venture and innovation tos and fros with the S&P. Of course, this overlooks the uncertain lead times and highly non-linear nature of outcomes. Its more helpful to think of innovation and venture as society's R&D. That was certainly Eisenhower's mindset in the 50s - the origins of Silicon Valley today. And there's certainly no disputing the 8x value creation of the West Coast vs Europe in the last decade. The intrinsic advances in science and technology that underpin venture and innovation are vertical. This is what matters for nations deciding whether or not to make innovation the keystone of creating dynamic, productive economies. And decide they must. Goldman Sachs' CEO David Solomon, in an article for Les Echos last week, offered that 'special attention must be paid to Europe’s venture and growth capital ecosystem....America’s enormous advantage in the availability of early-stage risk capital is among its most important distinguishing features' Texas' recently announced 11GW data center compared to the entire EU operational data center capacity today of 9GW offers further context #innovation #ai #robotics #venturecapital #entrepreneurship https://lnkd.in/e2UyZYDx

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The 2025 Lujiazui Forum convened in Shanghai today.... The focus was on the keynote delivered by Governor Pan Gongsheng of PBOC. The central bank chief announced eight financial policies, most notable was the measure to set up an international operations center for the digital yuan to boost the global influence of the RMB. This is not the first time that China has openly disclosed its intentions to internationalize the renminbi. Years past, Pan's predecessors had also publicized initiatives on numerous occasions towards the same agenda. To fully realize Pan's objective, Beijing will need to enact a series of structural reforms including but not limited to "a full liberalization of China’s capital account." It will take time and contingent upon both the domestic environment and geopolitical currents. What was under-reported and somewhat neglected in the Lujiazui Forum coverage was the speech by 吴清, chair of CSRC. Speaking after Pan, he focused on the lack of "long-term and patient" capital in support of technology and innovation in China. This article "刚刚，吴清发声，长期和耐心资本远远不够" posted after his presentation summarizes the key points including his encouragement for private equity firms to issue technology & innovation-based bonds to address the financing gap. "吴清宣布，将聚焦提升制度的包容性和适应性，以深化科创板、创业板改革为抓手，更好发挥科创板“试验田”作用，加力推出进一步深化改革的“1+6”政策措施。 具体来看，“1”在科创板设置科创成长层，并且重启未盈利企业适用于科创板第五套标准上市，更加精准服务技术有较大突破、持续研发投入大、商业前景广阔的优质科创企业，在强化信息披露、加强投资者适当性管理方面作出安排。 “6”即在科创板创新推出6项改革措施，包括对于适用科创板第五套标准的企业，试点引入资深专业机构投资者制度；面向优质科技企业试点IPO预先审阅机制；扩大第五套标准适用范围，支持人工智能、商业航天、低空经济等更多前沿科技领域企业适用；支持在审未盈利科技企业面向老股东开展增资扩股等活动；完善科创板公司再融资制度和战略投资者认定标准；增加科创板投资产品和风险管理工具等。同时，证监会也将在创业板正式启用第三套标准，支持优质未盈利创新企业上市。 吴清表示，当前，适应创新规律的资本形成机制不完善。与科技创新“十年磨一剑”的坚守相比，我们的金融供给仍存在资金短期化、风险容忍度低等问题，长期资本、耐心资本远远不够。" Finally, as a side note to "boost the global influence of the RMB," a few of the whales I previously mentioned ("some of the biggest players in the global financial and currency markets") are far more qualified than so-called "experts" to offer practical advice on the matter. After all, they control offshore gaming platforms including sports betting and handle daily "transactions, exchanges and settlements" in the billions of dollars including RMB. They are overseas ethnic Chinese and most never made it past high school. They don't speak a lick of English and prefer conversing in their native 闽南 and 潮州 dialects rather than Putonghua. Never in the news as they are low key and avoid the limelight. These self-made entrepreneurs are more comfortable in their slippers than wearing wingtips, shorts over suits, and love their rice plates than a Chateaubriand. In fact, they are some of the smartest and savviest operators I have ever dealt with but with a penchant for making big time bets. They came from nothing but today their net worth, collectively, would place them in the top 50 of the just-released 2025 Forbes World's Billionaires List. Go figure! #china #rmb #tech https://lnkd.in/g25pD333

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Why do traditional macroeconomic indicators often deviate from China's actual economic performance—a puzzle that has long perplexed researchers and analysts alike? The answer lies in a crucial blind spot: the lack of accurate quantitative tools to capture the dynamics of the new economy, which has evolved into an increasingly vital core driver of China's economic transformation. To bridge this critical gap, Caixin took a pioneering step in 2016 by launching the China New Economic Index (NEI), empowered by artificial intelligence. This groundbreaking index dives deep into monthly operational data of enterprises spanning 145 new economic sub-sectors, offering an authoritative, data-driven lens to decode the true trajectory of China's new economic development. Below is a detailed breakdown of the NEI's latest performance and key insights. https://lnkd.in/g_czPYWZ

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Geopolitics is choking liquidity and delaying exits. As exits are taking longer, we can benefit by capturing discounts on pre‑IPO secondaries. Azimuth Opportunity Fund helps investors access curated late‑stage, pre‑IPO deals at attractive discounts with clear visibility to liquidity. When IPO windows lag, access to top‑tier pre‑IPO names at a discount becomes your competitive edge. Azimuth partners with LPs, family offices, and HNWIs to source and structure secondary positions that match their risk/return and liquidity needs. Want to learn more? Comment or ask questions. #Geopolitics #PrivateMarkets #PreIPO #VentureCapital

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Thoughts on Endowments I found this to be a very interesting read which raises important considerations for the alts landscape in the following months. https://lnkd.in/gXjUgyn8 Broadly speaking endowments at least those referred by this article manage a university’s investments with the goal of preserving capital and allowing the funding of the university’s research. Endowments tend to be heavily invested in alternatives as they have defined liquidity needs usually planned years in advance, long investment horizons and no defined exit. Since an endowment will not need to retire its main concern is to increase in value or at least match inflation so it will continue to be able to fund its objectives in the long term. This perspective allows them to take full advantage of the illiquidity premium. What happens when an endowment suddenly needs that liquidity? This is the key consideration facing many investment managers today as the proposed cuts in federal funding will force many endowments to liquidate positions and use those proceeds to cover the gap left by the federal funding cuts. LP-led secondaries refer to the selling of private market assets in the secondary market carried out by investors rather than by managers. Endowments’ need for liquidity will be the driving force in this market. I believe this will present an excellent opportunity for secondaries investors. This need for liquidity will probably motivate certain endowments to sell some of their private market portfolio. The need for liquidity will probably widen the current spreads, allowing investors who want to enter the space to acquire high quality portfolios at relatively low prices. LP led secondaries will probably increase in size and dealmaking may be less than in 2022 as endowments have less AUM than pension funds, but spreads will probably be wider even more attractive for buyers as 2022 was largely a regulatory issue whereas this is both a regulatory and financial decision for endowments. According to Preqin data at the end of 2024 the global secondaries market counting dry powder and unrealized AUM stood at $509 billion USD, the total AUM of the universities and colleges in the USA stood at $848 billion USD according to National Association of College and University Business Officers of which on average there is a 28% allocation to private markets.  If university endowments were to sell 6% of the private markets portfolios the total market for secondaries would grow by 28% providing a great opportunity for investors. Would love to hear your thoughts on the matter! #alternativeinvestments #privatemarkets #secondaries #LPled #endowments #privatemarkets #portfoliomanagement 

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Powerful and timely message here from Anne Rammi at Be The Earth Foundation “So, here is what I want to say to all women in leadership, clearly: ASK FOR HELP. Not as a weakness, but as a strategy. And then, when you can, shift the pattern. Offer help to someone else... is how we truly change systems... One climbs and pulls the other.” Thank you Anne Rammi for trusting me and sharing this part of your journey with me. You asked great questions and helped me reflect on my own journey. We definitely shaped each other! Small Giants Family Office Small Giants Academy

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