As local currency bond markets in Asia expand to over US$25 trillion at the end of June 2024, according to the latest report from the Asian Development Bank, the region’s investor base is similarly evolving, reflecting the growing wealth accumulation underway.
A prime beneficiary of the rising affluence is the funds industry, which drew record inflows, especially during the Covid years. This trend has opened new opportunities, including in the fixed income space, even as competition intensifies while demand for yield products grows.
The twin funds hub of Hong Kong and Singapore boasts of assets under management that crossed US$8 trillion last year, according to data from the central banks. The rest of the region is similarly on an upward trajectory, fuelled by an expanding middle class and growing demand for investment solutions.
This year’s Asset Benchmark Research (ABR) survey of the Most Astute Investors as voted by the sellside is therefore introducing a more granular look at who are the Most Astute Investors by breaking down the different investor segments to better reflect the buying behaviour of pension funds, insurance companies, multilateral institutions, asset managers, and commercial banks.
ABR, which is marking its 25th anniversary as the region’s longest-running survey of its kind, covers 10 local currency markets – Indian rupee, Indonesian rupiah, Hong Kong dollar, offshore renminbi, onshore renminbi, Malaysian ringgit, Philippine peso, Singapore dollar, Thai baht, and New Taiwan dollar – for the Most Astute Investor ranking. In addition, the sellside also participated in the selection of the Most Astute Investors in the G3 bond market.
Apart from these markets, the Most Astute Investors’ ranking differentiates by types of institutions – banks, asset managers, hedge funds, insurance companies, private banks/wealth management, pension funds, securities firms, and corporates. Within these organizations, the rankings were also split by job function – research analyst, portfolio manager, and dealer/trader.
In terms of what makes a Most Astute Investor, the sellside that voted in both the local currency and G3 markets cited finger on the market pulse and fundamental analysis as the two most important attributes. This suggests that despite lower secondary market activity in the local currency bond markets, they are what differentiates the best from the rest.
Voting via TheAsset App
This year’s selection of the Most Astute Investors was conducted via the recently launched voting function on TheAsset App, which is in addition to the online version of the survey as was the case in previous years.
With this new feature, the sellside get a chance to express their views on candidates on a weekly basis beginning in February 2024 until the closing of the survey at the end of August 2024.
Another refresh of ABR’s Most Astute Investor survey is the nearly simultaneous launch of the Local Currency Bonds Survey and the G3 Bond Survey on TheAsset App.
Scores for ABR’s Most Astute Investors are tabulated via the online survey and also TheAsset App voting function. The votes received by the Most Astute Investors are then weighted according to the rating of the sellside casting the vote, the frequency of votes received from the ranked sellside individual, and the average number of Most Astute Investors the sellside voted during the survey period.
For a view of all the winners of this year’s Most Astute Investors, please log on to TheAssetApp and click on the vote icon.
The Asset Benchmark Research’s Most Astute Investors annual gala dinner in honour of the winning individuals and the top investment houses will be held on the 7th of November 2024 at the Four Seasons in Singapore. Seats are limited. To attend the gala dinner, please contact us at celebrate@theasset.com.