![metaverse-digital-icons-iStock-960.jpg](https://assets.euromoneydigital.com/dims4/default/71dfda2/2147483647/strip/true/crop/960x600+0+0/resize/800x500!/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Feuromoney-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F05%2F73%2Fcc9d7f524702a637ae1d8d43afad%2Fmetaverse-digital-icons-istock-960.jpg)
HSBC’s Metaverse Discretionary Strategy is the first of its kind, but it won’t be the last.
Launched on April 6, it is a fund designed to deliver metaverse-themed investment opportunities to the bank’s wealthy Asian clients.
The idea is the brainchild of Lina Lim, HSBC’s Asia-Pacific head of discretionary and funds, investments and wealth solutions.
Lim set out to create a new product offering that would give HSBC a lead in this space and to grab the attention of rich investors across the region.
“We saw a huge gap in terms of the product offering,” she tells Euromoney. “It’s not rocket science.”
[The] next iteration of internet is a long-term structural theme that should have a place in every portfolio
![Lina-Lim-HSBC-2022-591.jpg](https://assets.euromoneydigital.com/dims4/default/82a4bfb/2147483647/strip/true/crop/591x385+0+0/resize/800x521!/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Feuromoney-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F4c%2Fe4%2F44d117b3448fa54062b8b19b9eb4%2Flina-lim-hsbc-2022-591.jpg)
Most tech investors, she noted, tended to limit themselves to buying shares in the usual suspects – global giants such as Amazon and Alphabet. “We are not looking only at that – we are also looking at secondary companies across the world, who are also benefiting from and part of the ecosystem.”
Lim and her team pinpointed 40 to 45 “high-conviction” stocks they believe are best placed to benefit from the virtual reality that Silicon Valley is rapidly building.
They