Kara Byun

Operator | Investor | Business Builder

Senior financial services executive with 20+ years building, scaling and investing in businesses across capital markets, asset management and fintech. I have held front-office revenue, strategic investing and business leadership roles across New York, Tokyo, Hong Kong and London — combining deep markets expertise with board-level governance experience to drive commercial outcomes at scale.

Currently, I lead HSBC Asset Management's fintech venture platform as Head of Fintech, Venture & Growth Investments, overseeing investment strategy, portfolio construction, capital allocation and strategic partnerships across Europe and Asia. I serve as a Board Director for all portfolio companies I have invested in — spanning fintech, wealthtech, healthtech and insurtech.

Prior to my current role, I managed a ~$400m strategic investment portfolio at HSBC Global Banking & Markets, overseeing 18 holdings across market infrastructure, fintech and data — including two successful exits (Visible Alpha to S&P Global; SIMON to iCapital). Earlier in my career I built and ran trading businesses at HSBC Asia, Goldman Sachs and Harbert Management, including a $1.5bn structured equity finance portfolio and HSBC's Asian convertible bond franchise, which I rebuilt into a top-three regional platform generating over $24m in annual revenue.

I bring together pattern recognition across markets, investment and innovation — and a track record of building businesses and allocating capital in complex, multi-stakeholder environments. I am equally at home in the boardroom, with a portfolio company, or working across global institutions to drive strategic outcomes.

Education

A.B. Cum Laude, Physics | Harvard University

Executive Masters of Accounting  | Cambridge Judge Business School (matriculating in 2025)

Areas of expertise

Capital allocation | Venture & growth investing | Business building | Strategic partnerships | Board governance | P&L leadership | Capital markets | Fintech & innovation | Strategic transformation