Greenwich Associates’ research into capital markets around the world reveals that hedge funds from North America and Europe are moving en masse into Asia in search of new trading opportunities and new sources of assets.
As their assets under management surge, private banks are joining hedge funds as one of the most important drivers of trading volume in Asian fixed income markets.
Amid rapid economic growth in Asia, increases in personal wealth have at times outpaced the development of the investment industry. Because many Asian countries lack the broad range of mutual funds, unit trusts and other investment options found in other markets, private banks have become a main repository for the growing fortunes of Asia’s new high-net-worth set. Private banks and the private banking arms of global financial services companies are opening or expanding branch offices in Hong Kong and Singapore.
“Every year, Greenwich Associates identifies a representative sample of the fixed income investor base in Asia,” says Tim Sangston, a consultant at Greenwich Associates. “In 2005, that research universe included 40 private banks and hedge funds. By 2006, that number had increased to nearly 150.”
These comments are based on the results of Greenwich Associates’ 2006 Asian Fixed Income Investors Study. A new Greenwich Report presents the results of the research, including an analysis of trading volume growth in a variety of cash bond and derivatives products, and a detailed look at the increasing competition and rising salaries for fixed income professionals in Asian markets.