Winners rationale

In 2017, hedge funds made a strong return to Asian HNWIs’ portfolios as a mix of greater investor risk appetite and need for protection led to an increase in alternatives allocations.

Earlier in the year, a reflation trade buoyed momentum traders while the prospect of a more aggressive rate hike trajectory led to concerns about fixed income downside. As the rally continued to grind to ever higher levels, concerns about valuations and volatility steered investor attention towards strategies generating returns that were either market neutral or relatively uncorrelated to public markets.

Concurrently, the emergence of liquid alternatives as a potentially viable substitute to traditional hedge funds proved especially apt in Asia’s private banking industry where clients exhibit a strong preference for liquidity and growing demand for transparency, even at the individual line.

Such advantages extend beyond advisory businesses well into discretionary portfolio management units, where superior transparency often translates into enhanced risk management and aftersales communication – key factors that prevent clients from unnecessarily client selling in panic during turbulent market periods.

Deutsche Bank Global Investment Solutions’ platform, which offers clients a sizeable number of strategies, was picked by gatekeepers this year as a standout service provider. In particular, wealth managers praised Deutsche Bank’s excellent service competency.

The ability to offer a holistic reporting system that caters to regulatory, tax and risk management needs coupled with a comprehensive product range, Deutsche Bank Global Investment Solutions is the Best Service Provider – Hedge Fund Platform, for the second year in a row.