Tag : aberdeen

Aberdeen's Donald Amstad says index funds expose investors to bad companies, with the risks more prevalent in emerging markets such as Asia. Vanguard sets out the opposing view.

Aberdeen’s Asia head of equity dealing notes the difficulty of managing numerous sales trading relationships in the region, and flags changes he’d like to see in other areas.

Aberdeen Asset Management notes interest from a US pension fund in its emerging market corporate bond strategy for the first time – and also tips more Japanese demand.

Fund managers are talking up opportunities in small-cap funds focused on Japan, but it’s a tough sell to European institutions burned by many false dawns.

If the nation’s shadow-banking system blows up, banks will foot the bill, its managers argue. But they see opportunity in HK-domiciled firms exposed to Greater China consumption.

Five people including credit PM Scott Bennett have lost their roles at Aberdeen Asset Management, but the firm is boosting its fixed-income team in other ways.

The UK fund manager has made its first fixed-income investment hire in Kuala Lumpur, and two more are imminent.

The positive long-term story overshadows concerns over policy-rate risk and the impact of Europe's sovereign debt crisis, say Kheng-siang Ng of SSgA and Kenneth Akintewe of Aberdeen AM.

But the consensus is that the world's most populous country will maintain its rapid growth in 2011, whether it raises interest rates further or not.

MFC Global Investment Management and Aberdeen Asset Management are among those with strategies targeting renminbi-denominated bonds issued in both mainland China and Hong Kong.

The UK-based asset manager wants to build up its bond franchise, with China central to its plans, but renminbi funds in Hong Kong are not currently on the agenda.

Aberdeen Asset Management and Janus Capital express caution over the outlook for the US market, with the high level of unemployment a major area of concern.