It's tough competing in the 'Olympics', says Lion Global CEO

Singapore

WHEN Lion Global Investors was founded 31 years ago, it was just playing in the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games, competing against very few, said CEO Gerard Lee.

Today, it is in the Olympic Games, facing brutal international competition. So it has to compete through "smart beta" funds, or away from the public space.

Mr Lee was using a sports analogy to describe how the competitive environment has evolved over time.

"In the 4x100 or 4x400 metres events in track and field, we didn't even have enough countries to fill up all the eight lanes. Maybe only five or six will put up a team, so the probability of winning a medal is 60 per cent."

But today, the top 50 asset managers in the world are in Singapore, he said. "It's very, very tough. I'm playing the Olympic Games. In the 100-metre dash, if you can't run below 10 seconds, you might not even make it to the heats. So sometimes for certain mandates, we don't even get invi…