AXA Investment Managers Asia, Mercuries Life Insurance, Sun Life of Canada and Batavia Prosperindo Aset Manajemen are among the new entrants to the latest top investment house ranking of Asset Benchmark Research in Asian local currency bonds.

A total of 280 institutions scored votes across eight Asian markets for local currency bonds this year. They were ranked according to the Astute Investor votes garnered in the period. Of these, almost half (47%) of the institutions are asset managers, 32% are the investment portfolios or trust departments of banks and 21% are insurance funds.

AXA Investment Managers Asia is a new entrant in Hong Kong this year. Operating in the region since 1998, the investment subsidiary of the French insurance group has US$498.4 billion in assets under management for fixed income globally as of mid-2015. Another asset manager entrant is BOCI-Prudential which is a joint venture between BOCI Asset Management and Prudential Corporation Holdings (a wholly owned subsidiary of the UK-based Prudential). First State Investments has also been ranked in 2016, the investment arm of Commonwealth Bank of Australia.

In Indonesia, the local subsidiaries of global insurance names AIA and Allianz have dropped out of the ranking. They’ve been replaced by asset managers Batavia Prosperindo Aset Manajemen and Ashmore Asset Management. Established in 1996, Batavia managed US$1.7 billion in assets under management as of the end of 2015. Ashmore Asset Management was established in Indonesia in 2012 and as of June 2016 the UK-based investment manager had US$52.6 billion in assets under management globally.

SBI Funds Management has re-entered the ranking this year after a hiatus in 2015 in the India market. A joint venture between State Bank of India and Amundi, the assets under management for the mutual fund in particular was US$14.7 billion in October 2015.

AmInvestment Management and AmIslamic Funds Management of AmBank Group and Hong Leong Assurance have resurfaced this year, after being ranked in 2014 for the Malaysian market. In the Philippines, the insurance house Sun Life of Canada has also made a comeback this year displacing Metrobank and FMIC.

Allianz Global Investors, the investment arm of Allianz that managed US$484.9 billion globally as of March 2016 is a newcomer that leads in Singapore. NTUC Income Insurance also ranks, founded in 1970 the insurance company serves over two million customers with 3.7 million policies.

In Taiwan four institutions take their spots for the first time this year, Mercuries Life Insurance, Taiwan Cooperative Bank and Taiwan Cooperative Bills Finance, Chunghwa Post and China Life Insurance. While SCB Asset Management and Krungthai-AXA Life Insurance rank fourth and fifth in Thailand for the first time.

Manulife Asset Management ranks first in both Hong Kong and Indonesia and retains this position from 2015 (Indonesia). The same is true for ICICI Prudential in India, Bank of the Philippine Islands in the Philippines, and Eastspring Investments in Singapore. Taipei Fubon Bank as well as Fubon Life Insurance in Taiwan and Kasikorn Asset Management in Thailand are also top houses.

The Asian Local Currency Bond Benchmark Review covers 11 markets including China (onshore and offshore), Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand. It has been conducted annually since 2000. It provides a wealth of data on the product needs of investors and the market penetration of the banks that are active in local currency bonds. It also provides detailed analysis on the investors’ buying behaviour when selecting their counterparties, giving unprecedented access into the minds of investors.

To view the rankings of the top five investment houses in Asian local currency bonds by country, please click here.

The nominated Astute Investors have also been weighted and ranked individually to comprise Asset Benchmark Research’s annual most Astute Investors in Asian local currency bonds ranking. To view this ranking by country, please click here.

Please click on the links to view the outlook for the Asian local currency bond markets from the most Astute Investors and from the Best Individuals in the next 12 months.

To find out more about Asset Benchmark Research and our work, please click here.