The Asia-focused bank's move comes as global allocations to hedge funds have gathered pace with investors increasingly looking beyond traditional stocks and bonds into alternative assets, and as StanChart leverages the region's rapidly growing affluent population to grow its wealth business.
"I think this is a good product to offer to clients as something that gives them a little bit of a hedge and stable returns," said Samir Subberwal, StanChart's global head of wealth solutions, retail products, data and analytics.
"Hedge fund strategies, such as equity market neutral and multi-strategy fund of hedge funds, have a clear focus on generating positive, lowly correlated absolute returns and can help investors navigate choppy markets," Subberwal told Reuters.
"The performance of these hedge funds have actually been quite resilient over the last few years."
Hedge fund allocations will be a key focus for StanChart, Subberwal said: "It is about completing the suite of products so we can help clients diversify their portfolios and be able to manage the volatility of markets much better."
StanChart reported a forecast-beating first-half profit last month, driven by a surge in wealth and global banking revenue as wealth income soared 38%.
The gain was powered by a double-digit rise in investment products as inflows and the number of new accounts increased as market volatility drove up demand for wealth advice.
Subberwal said managed investments, including public funds and variable capital companies, structured products and cash equities were among the products that experienced the strongest growth.
