Asia’s asset management breakthrough will be powered by AI

THE 21st century was hailed as the Asian Millennium, where innovation would catapult local economies to the forefront of the global economy. While sectors like technology have ushered in startups-turned-giants and entrepreneurs-turned-billionaires, one sector in Asia hasn’t transformed at such a pace: its investment management industry.

To date, Asian asset managers have grappled with resource constraints in their bid to compete globally, a realm where US and European firms, with greater resources and established networks, reigned.

As a result, Western firms have dominated the global mandates, while investors have generally overlooked Asian asset managers, who largely focused on managing portfolios of Asian securities given their local edge.