北京近几个月来收紧了对量化交易基金的监管审查，因为担心它们加剧市场不稳定。然而，一位知名投资者认为中国量化基金的未来光明，因为它们是“发达经济体所必需的”。
Beijing has tightened scrutiny of quantitative trading funds in recent months amid fears they add to market instability. Yet a leading investor believes the future is bright for China’s quant funds, as they are “necessary for a developed economy”.
阿瑞斯资本（Aris Capital）负责人黄赛特（Seth Huang）表示，量化基金在中国资本市场上对散户投资者拥有如此明显的优势，以至于这种局面可被形容为“一场有人用机枪、有人用屠刀的战争”。
Seth Huang, the head of Aris Capital, said quant funds had such a clear advantage over retail investors on China’s capital markets that the situation could be described as “a war with some using machine guns and others butcher knives”.
据国内媒体报道，量化基金在中国发展迅速，今年管理资产规模超过100亿元人民币（约15亿美元）的基金数量增加了18只。
Quant funds have been making rapid progress in China, with the number of funds managing more than 10 billion yuan (US$1.5 billion) in assets jumping by 18 this year, according to domestic media reports.
黄赛特同时也是香港科技大学金融学兼职副教授，他表示，该行业的增长主要归功于基金的强劲表现。
The sector’s growth is mostly down to the funds’ strong performance, according to Huang, who is also an associate adjunct professor of finance at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.
他补充道：“去年，95%的中证1000量化指数增强基金产生了正超额收益”，这意味着它们跑赢了中证1000——中国的旗舰小盘股指数。
“Last year, 95 per cent of CSI 1000 quant index-enhancement funds generated positive excess returns,” he added, meaning they beat the CSI 1000 – China’s flagship small-cap index.
据《中国证券报》报道，平均来看，各指数的量化指数增强基金跑赢基准16.75%，平均收益率达到45.08%。
On average, quantitative index-enhancement funds across indexes outperformed their benchmarks by 16.75 per cent, reaching an average return rate of 45.08 per cent, according to the Chinese Securities Journal.
但与其他市场相比，量化基金目前对中国普通投资者的可及性较低，这是北京对该行业实施相对严格监管的结果。
But quant funds were currently less accessible to ordinary investors in China compared with other markets, a result of Beijing’s relatively tight regulation of the sector.
黄赛特说：“在美国，最大的量化基金管理养老基金和捐赠基金，所以本质上它们管理的是教师、消防员和垃圾工的钱。在中国，政府不允许量化基金管理养老金或国有资金。”这引发了一个问题：谁从量化基金的强劲表现中获益？
“In the United States, the largest quant funds manage pension funds and endowments, so essentially they manage the money of teachers, firefighters and garbagemen,” Huang said. “In China, the government does not let quant funds manage pensions or state money.”
很大一部分量化基金是做市商：当作为流动性接受者的散户投资者拿走流动性时，它们提供流动性Aris Capital的Seth Huang表示，量化基金近几个月在中国面临批评，有人认为它们会放大市场波动。但黄先生辩称，这些基金对股票市场可能产生积极影响——包括对散户投资者。
This raises questions about who benefits from quant funds’ strong performance. A large portion of quant funds are market makers: they provide liquidity when retail investors, who are market takers, take liquidity awaySeth Huang, Aris Capital Quant funds have faced criticism in China over recent months, with some arguing they can amplify market swings.
他指出，当散户投资者争相抛售时，某些量化基金通过向订单簿提供报价来缓冲价格下跌。
But Huang argued that the funds could have a positive effect on the equity market – including for retail investors.
基于这些原因，黄先生表示，中国监管机构如果进一步收紧对量化基金的监管将是失职。他补充道，即使普通散户投资者没有直接投资，这些基金在中国日趋成熟的市场中也发挥着重要作用。根据黄先生的说法，AI正在增强量化基金可利用的技术武器库。
Certain quant funds cushion price drops by providing quotes to the order book when retail investors rush to sell, he pointed out. For these reasons, Huang said Chinese regulators would be remiss to further tighten regulations over quant funds. They play an important role in China’s maturing market, even if regular retail investors are not directly invested, he added.
“我过去管理一个约20人的研究团队，”他说。“今天，我可以让四位优秀的研究人员使用AI工具，完成的研究量或许是原来的三倍。这非同寻常。”AI还改变了量化基金可以建模的内容。
AI is adding to the arsenal of technological weapons at quant funds’ disposal, according to Huang. “I used to run a research team of around 20 people,” he said. “Today, I can have four good researchers using AI tools and get perhaps three times as much research done. It’s extraordinary.”
“金融市场包含数千个变量之间难以人工指定的非线性相互作用，”黄先生解释道。虽然传统模型简化了这些相互作用，但“现代机器学习模型可以考察丰富得多的关系”。
AI also changes what quant funds can model. “Financial markets contain non-linear interactions among thousands of variables that are difficult to specify manually,” Huang explained.
当被问及香港在中国崛起的量化基金领域中的角色时，他说，这座城市历史上一直是“资金的中间商，而非策略的发源地”。
While traditional models simplify these interactions, “modern machine-learning models can examine much richer relationships”.
“与内地相比，香港利用顶尖人才创造新事物的激励要小得多，”他说，并补充道，中国“越来越”在发展自己的量化生态系统。文/ Tim Yuen Lingk
When asked about Hong Kong’s role in China’s rising quant fund sector, he said the city had historically been a “middleman of capital, not a strategy originator”. “The incentive to create something new with top talents is much smaller in Hong Kong compared to the mainland,” he said, adding that China was “increasingly” developing its own quantitative ecosystem.