“What we have seen clearly since last year is a trend towards simpler and less risky products when you compare to exactly a year ago where Asian investors were happy to take serious risk. This has changed and we are happy with that,” says Arnaud Tellier, managing director and head of investment services Asia for BNP Paribas Wealth Management.

 

The choppy financial markets in the past year have driven investors to prefer simple investments. “We are not driving our clients to take more risk. We just want to make sure that they take the risk that they understand and that fits with their investment profile. We also advocate portfolio diversification which is not something that is so common in Asia where you see a lot of concentrated portfolios, much more than in Europe and the US,” Tellier says.

 

Prashant Bhayani, managing director and chief investment officer, Asia of BNP Paribas Wealth Management, also says that HNW investors prefer products with low volatility and income.

 

“In general the multi-asset solutions are important and we think that’s going to grow. It’s still purely at a growth phase in Asia but we think it’s very important that clients have a global multi-asset allocation in their investment portfolios. It’s also a window into our global views,” Bhayani says.

 

“Our clients are in general looking for income. It could be fixed income or it could be dividend yielding equity. Clearly, sentiment towards equity in general is still cautious because we went through 2000 and 2008. The clients have not forgotten that. So I think it’s very important to have a long term asset allocation to equities,” Bhayani says.