16-year-olds get early start in Singapore's hedge funds

IN THE dog-eat-dog world of hedge funds, giving an internship to a 16-year-old is almost unheard of. But when local talent is hard to find, teaching a minor how to generate alpha can be a worthwhile investment.

And so last summer, high schooler Cao Yi Ke spent two weeks at Modular Asset Management, a near US$1 billion Singaporean hedge fund spun out of Millennium Management. She crunched data in spreadsheets, chatted with veterans and watched nerve-wracking meetings where money managers defended their investment ideas from peers.

Miss Cao is the youngest in a wave of Singaporeans being readied for the world of active asset management. As billionaire tycoons and global hedge fund giants move en masse to the tiny city-state, a shortage of qualified professionals is starting to bite - forcing the government and investors to do more to cultivate the industry's next generation. "I was a bit terrified, I didn't know how to react to them speaking to me and I didn't know how to hold a conversation but they were welcoming," Miss Cao, now 17, said of her first day in the office, having beaten 10 classmates to land the role. "I'm definitely more likely to consider it now."