How Global Asset Management Firms Can Achieve a Winning Asia Strategy

生活中有一些微妙之处只能通过经验学习。“亚洲资产管理”的定义是其中之一。只有在对冲基金行业进行了一段时间之后，我意识到这同样可以（并且是）以下列方式解释：

•非亚洲投资者投资亚洲资产课程。

• Asian investors investing in Asian asset classes.

•亚洲投资者在全球范围内投资资产课程。

In this article, I focus on the first two interpretations, i.e. investors who are interested in increasing allocation to Asian assets. The investors in the third definition are of a different kind altogether and I am saving that topic for another day.

它may surprise some readers to know that despite the rhetoric about the next wave of growth coming from Asia, Asian assets by and large represent a minority portion of the portfolio for institutional investors, which include Sovereign Wealth Funds (both Asian and non-Asian), university endowments, insurance companies, pension funds and high-net worth individuals.

So, why does this anomaly persist in a world where there are not many investment opportunities outside Asia? Well, the problem lies on the supply side.

GLOBAL ASSET MANAGEMENT FIRMS ARE GOING HORRIBLY WRONG WITH THEIR ASIA STRATEGY

它永远不会让我感到不安，全球资产管理公司开放的亚洲商店是针对亚洲投资者而不是亚洲资产课程。他们使用亚洲作为营销前哨，以增加投资者基地，而不是创建亚洲产品或发展以亚洲为中心的研究能力。它ismarketing first, and then research for non-Asian asset management firms that set foot in Asia.

This trend is not limited to the asset management arms of global financial behemoths but even alternative investments like Private Equity funds and Fund-of-Hedge funds have been guilty of this mistake. A typical setup of these firms in Asia consists of a Business Development/Marketing officer, supported by locally hired sales people and one or two junior analysts. The sales people, which consist of relationship managers and distributors, are mandated to push the firm’s global investment products while the analysts do nothing but read third-party research reports all day and ‘brief’ the sales guys on them for their pitch. Primary research and in-house developed Asia-focused products are alien terms at these firms. Often an old hand at these firms is relocated to Asia to give more it credibility, but that doesn’t change the underlying problem.

他们没有意识到的是，它不是将赢得投资授权的“销售”个性，而是“unglamor”，而是知情的研究人员和亚洲专注的产品，更好地为他们做了工作。在这些动荡时期，与美好的日子不同，投资者更关注保存和增长其资本而不是其关系经理的高尔夫/软技能。难怪，在过去几年中，超过十几个全球资产管理公司无法赢得亚洲的任何相当大的投资授权。其中一些最终关闭亚洲购物。

By focusing on research, these firms will not only increase their chances of attracting Asian investors, but would also be able to serve their non-Asian investors better by offering them in-house Asia-focused products.

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ASIAN AND NON-ASIAN INVESTORS

From my personal experience, there are two main differences between non-Asian and Asian institutional investors looking to invest in Asian assets. While the former are relatively less informed and more curious, the latter generally are completely abreast with the market developments and are extremely keen to understand the “investment strategy.”

它需要不同的方法来教育和投放这些不同类型的投资者。例如，如果一个是亚洲的固定收益基金经理，普通的香草信用分析能力不足以关闭非亚洲机构投资者。亚博赞助欧冠这些投资者希望意识到这一部分的宏观趋势以及未来的期望。与此同时，亚洲投资者（自然地更加了解宏观主题）将对印度尼西亚煤炭部门，中国建筑业等的国家/地区特定的预测更感兴趣。

For a firm to be able to cater effectively to both these kinds of investors, its ability to attract and retain key talent is paramount. Unfortunately, talent that excels at both research and sales is a rare commodity in Asia and thus is in high-demand. These are like the queen on the chessboard that can move both diagonally and laterally.

Billions of dollars entered Asia during Quantitative Easing as investors were desperate for healthier returns. However, billions more didn’t make it beyond their check books as institutional investors weren’t happy with research capabilities of the asset management firms. In a world where the competition for assets is fierce, it is the quality of research that is going to be the key differentiator in Asia.

Tanuj Khosla is currently working as a Research Analyst at 3 Degrees Asset Management, a fund management firm in Singapore. He can be followed on Twitter @Tanuj_Khosla. Alternatively he can be reached at khosla.tanuj@gmail.com. Views expressed are personal.