Research Affiliates today announced that Vice Chairman and Co-Founder, Dr. Jason Hsu, will lead Rayliant Global Advisors, an Asia-focused investment firm based in Hong Kong, as Chairman, CEO and majority owner. Research Affiliates will retain a substantial minority interest in Rayliant (formerly Research Affiliates Global Advisors, the East Asia unit of Research Affiliates), which will focus on smart beta strategies tailored to the Asian market, as well as strategies based on Greater China equities and/or bonds which are designed for foreign institutional investors. Dr. Hsu will continue to operate in a non-executive capacity at Research Affiliates as Vice Chairman and remain a partner and owner of Research Affiliates.

Jason Hsu commented: “There is an enormous opportunity in Asia to impact the investment marketplace to achieve better investor outcomes, much as Research Affiliates has done in the United States and EMEA. I'm excited to continue my collaboration with Research Affiliates, while taking on this new challenge. I am incredibly grateful to have the support of my partners to pursue this ambitious endeavor.”

Rob Arnott, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Research Affiliates commented: “Rayliant Global Advisors will continue to support Research Affiliates’ mission to impact the global investment community for the benefit of investors. We think Jason is uniquely qualified to lead this effort in Asia; he's researched Asian investment markets extensively, and built an extraordinary network in East Asia. Jason will continue to help our business to grow with his entrepreneurial spirit, and we look forward to continuing to collaborate in research and product innovation.”

About Research Affiliates, LLC

Research Affiliates, LLC is a global leader in smart beta and asset allocation strategies. Dedicated to creating value for investors, Research Affiliates seeks to have a profound impact on the global investment community through our insights and products.

Research Affiliates was founded in 2002 and is based in Newport Beach, California. As of November 30, 2015, about $162 billion in assets were managed worldwide using investment strategies developed by Research Affiliates.

Research Affiliates delivers solutions in partnership with some of the world's leading financial institutions, who offer mutual funds, ETFs, separately managed accounts, and/or commingled accounts.

More information on Research Affiliates is available at ResearchAffiliates.com.

Smart beta generally refers to a category of investment solutions that seek to add value by systematically investing in well-established sources of excess returns using a transparent and rules-based approach.

Fundamental Index®, the non-capitalization method for creating and weighting an index of securities, is patented and patent-pending proprietary intellectual property of Research Affiliates, LLC. (See all applicable US patent and pending patent disclosures located at http://www.researchaffiliates.com/Pages/legal.aspx, which are fully incorporated herein.)

About Rayliant Global Advisors

Rayliant Global Advisors (formerly known as Research Affiliates Global Advisors, Ltd) is a leading provider of Smart Beta strategies in Asia. In the future, the firm plans to add strategies based on Greater China equities and/or bonds. With this dual focus, Rayliant seeks to disrupt the Asian investment ecosystem to create better investor outcomes.

As of January 1st 2016, an estimated $4.0 billion in assets were managed using Rayliant’s strategies and another $21 billion were supported by Rayliant as the representative of Research Affiliates in Asia.

The firm is led by Jason Hsu, a well-established leader in Smart Beta research and co-founder of Research Affiliates. Jason has over 40 published papers in academic journals and has won a number of awards for his work. He was named to the list of Institutional Investors ’20 Rising Stars of Hedge Funds’ and is an Adjunct Professor of Finance at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).

More information on Rayliant Global Advisors is available at RayliantAdvisors.com.