In a fiercely competitive environment, PIMCO was ranked the top investment house by aggregate Astute Investor votes in 2015 with PineBridge Investments second in the asset manager category. Both houses have improved their rank compared to last year, while BlackRock, the former forerunner has dropped to third place.

 

New entrants to the ranking this year include the asset management arm of UBS, UBS Global Asset Management, the Hong Kong branch of American investment firm T. Rowe Price and the global asset manager owned by UK insurer Aviva, Aviva Investors.

 

In the hedge funds category, Nomura Global Capital Management and Saka Capital rank first and second respectively for the second year in a row. The newcomers to this ranking are two long-standing Hong Kong-based hedge funds, LIM Advisors and Value Partners.

 

Among the private banks, UBS Wealth Management has moved up from fourth in 2014 to first place this year. Morgan Stanley Private Wealth Management has also gained two places to be ranked third in 2015. New additions to the ranking include Credit Suisse Private Bank and J.P.Morgan Private Bank.

 

For the first time in 2015, Asset Benchmark Research has introduced two new additional institution types – banks and insurance companies. Bank of China tops the bank category for China/ Hong Kong and OCBC Bank is the leader in Singapore and trumps DBS Bank. In the Philippines, the winning bank is Banco de Oro. For insurance companies, AIA Group ranks top for the regional category and Cathay Life Insurance stands out in Taiwan.

 

Astute Investors covering 44 institutions have been honoured in this year’s top investment houses ranking. The ranking is based on the number of votes garnered for Astute Investors for each of the investment houses and is subject to a weighting methodology. Votes for Astute Investors were cast by sellside individuals based on who they value in the buyside in terms of their knowledge of the credits and markets, their acumen in making investment decisions, and their trading skill.