Alpha Male has attended more hedge fund conferences than he cares to remember.  Many of them have begun with several empty seats and ended with far more.  But apparently the good citizens of Geneva know a hot financial topic when they see one.  You know all those seats along the back wall for late comers?  All packed.  You know the aisle – where you walk – to get to your seat?  Also packed (with extra chairs that had to be brought in).  The main conference hall of the Hotel “President Wilson” in Geneva was overflowing yesterday morning as Professor Bill Fung of the London Business School kicked off this two-day gabfest on hedge fund replication.  Thankfully, it appears the Geneva fire marshal must have been off having a chocolate eclair at some swanky cafe by the lake.

Why all the interest?  Hedge fund replication – that esoteric and highly quantitative discipline that had struggled for attention only a year ago – has suddenly hit the mainstream.

But rather than freaking out about it, it seems that many hedge fund operators have embraced the old enemy and have positioned hedge fund clones as a complement, not a substitute, to traditional hedge funds.  For example, Fung himself told the audience:

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