Apac investors want more from active management than outperformance

ACTIVE management is having a moment in Asia-Pacific – not because markets are calm (they are not) but because an overwhelming majority of institutional investors and wealth managers across the region are confident it can help them navigate what comes next.

The more interesting question is why.

Schroders’ latest Global Investor Insights Survey 2026, which covered more than 1,000 institutional investors, wealth managers and intermediaries worldwide – including 245 from Apac – found that 86 per cent from the region are confident that active management can help them achieve their investment objectives over the next 12 to 18 months.

Asked which characteristics matter most in an active asset manager, Apac respondents put the ability to capture outperformance at the top of the list (63 per cent) – no surprise there.

But the next two come close behind – nimbleness in navigating uncertainty (55 per cent) and responsiveness to geopolitical disruption (51 per cent) – are both associated with active management. At the bottom of the list, at just 28 per cent, is a differentiated investment philosophy – long considered the cornerstone of how active managers position themselves.

The message from Apac investors is clear: They want asset managers who can proactively move with the market, not just interpret it, as do their global counterparts.

Navigating the public-private world

There is a context behind this. Apac investors are managing portfolios at a time when risks are compounding faster than the established playbook was designed to handle.

Geopolitical risk is closer to home. The survey found that 76 per cent of Apac investors rank conflict in the Middle East as a top geopolitical concern, ahead of the global average of 69 per cent.

Uncertainty over US foreign policy (70 per cent) and energy security (62 per cent) follow close behind. Conducted following the outbreak of the Iran conflict in early 2026, the survey found that 87 per cent of Apac investors expect greater market volatility in the year ahead. Only 5 per cent plan to maintain their existing allocations and wait it out.

Market concentration is another pressure. With a handful of US technology names dominating global equity benchmarks, passive investors have rarely been so exposed to single-stock, single-sector and single-country risk. Just 4 per cent of Apac investors say they are unconcerned about concentration, and 37 per cent are rotating into active management specifically to address it.

The lines between asset classes are blurring. More than half of Apac investors now view opportunities across public and private markets through a single, holistic framework, breaking down to 53 per cent in equities, 54 per cent in credit, and 57 per cent in income.

Private credit is being adopted faster than ever. The share of Apac investors holding none at all is set to fall from 23 per cent to 15 per cent over the next 12 to 24 months.

These are not problems that a strategic asset allocation, set once a year, can solve.

What Apac investors want

Against this backdrop, three things increasingly define what Apac investors expect from active management.

Speed, for one thing. When 55 per cent of investors prioritise nimbleness, and 51 per cent want asset managers responsive to geopolitical disruption, they are describing something specific – managers who can reposition between sessions, not quarters.

When policy announcements and geopolitical developments can reshape valuations overnight, conviction without execution has limited value.

Market access matters, too, and this is where the Apac story diverges most sharply from the global one. Within alternative investments, 42 per cent of Apac wealth gatekeepers cite access to areas of the market not available through public markets as a top motivation – nine percentage points above the global average.

The same theme runs through the adoption of private credit and private equity, where the proportion of Apac investors with zero allocation is falling quickly. Increasingly, active management is being judged by reach as much as selection.

Then there is cross-asset judgment. As the boundaries between public and private, equities and credit, traditional and alternatives continue to dissolve, investors want asset managers who can work across the full spectrum.

The most valuable active managers are not the ones with the best single-stock idea. They are the ones who can find the right opportunity wherever it sits – and move capital there with conviction.

What this means for asset management

More than a passing trend, this is reshaping what active management means in Apac.

The asset managers that will earn the next decade of mandates in this region are unlikely to be those competing on philosophy alone. They will be the ones that deliver better judgment – that is, knowing when to move, where to look and how to adapt as markets evolve.

Apac investors have made their expectations clear. The active managers who thrive here will be the ones who are already moving.

The writer is head of client group, Asia, Schroders