Winners rationale

Despite external shocks brought about by ratcheting trade tensions and tightening central bank policies, Fidelity International successfully capitalised on Asian investors’ home bias and appetite for fixed income to record strong business performance within Asia’s bond space in 2018.

In addition to managing its existing product range — comprising FF Asian Bond, FF Asia Pacific Strategic Income, FF China RMB Bond, FF China HY, and FF Asian HY — Fidelity International spent the year augmenting its shelf with a number of innovative offerings.

Responding to investors’ concerns over duration risk, Fidelity International launched its Fidelity Enhanced Reserve Fund — a short-dated bond strategy that aims to offer investors liquidity, stability, and yield — into which it has recorded healthy inflows from private banking clients since the fund’s debut in early 2018.

Further, a number of Fidelity International’s Asian bond strategies were used extensively as building blocks in various private banks’ discretionary platforms throughout the year — a strong testament to the firm’s broad and full product suite.

“Our broad Asian bond franchise, from Asian investment grade bonds to high yield bonds to now also lower volatility, lower duration-type funds in direct response to client needs, provides us with a differentiating advantage,” said Bryan Collins, head of Asian fixed income and portfolio manager at Fidelity International.

“Credit selection is an integral part of driving relative performance and should become increasingly important as markets come out of years of quantitative easing. To this end, the Asian bond franchise is well positioned to continue offering good value for our investors.”

Underscoring the firm’s robust product spectrum and the quality of its solutions and services, the region’s private banking gatekeepers chose Fidelity International as Asian Private Banker’s Best Fund Provider – Asia Bond.