Winners rationale

Quality, commitment, relevance, innovation: Fidelity International delivered on all fronts in 2019 and as such, is the deserved winner of the Asian Private Banker’s Fund House of the Year for the first time, and this in a year that tested the mettle of many-a-manager, and tempted many into easy wins. This was a year that demanded most of all constant and close partnership with private banking clients who were experiencing widespread risk aversion.

As it is, Fidelity International’s team in Asia — including over 400 professionals in Hong Kong alone (as at 30 June 2019) — delivered a stunning year of results during the period under consideration.

As of 1 August 2019, the firm had posted record sales in the region — and notably, that was without entering the fixed maturity plan arena. Fidelity International also achieved considerably more fund onboardings on private banking platforms, as well as focus fund slots over the past year.

Resonating strongly with private banks and their clients over the year was the ongoing appetite for yield. In this environment, Fidelity International’s high yield bond fund solutions were relevant solutions for clients.

On the high yield side, most notable were its FF Asian High Yield Fund and FF China High Yield Fund, which earned the firm this year’s award for Best Fund Provider – High Yield Bond.

Also noteworthy was Fidelity International’s Enhanced Reserve Fund, which aims to provide cash-heavy investors with liquidity, stability, and yield (strategically in that order), by investing in a combination of high-quality short-dated credits, money market securities, and floating rate bonds. The Fidelity Enhanced Reserve Fund not only posts an attractive yield with a strong awareness to volatility management, but gathered strong inflows as well over the period under consideration.

Another standout product achievement was the steady and rapid growth in demand from private banks for Fidelity International’s FF Global Multi Asset Income Fund — a strategy that aligns well with investors seeking a sustainable, natural income of around 5% p.a. with lower volatility due to its flexible asset allocation approach across a variety of asset classes and styles, overlaid by a sound risk management framework. Private banks appreciate the ‘true-to-label’ nature of this strategy for its role as a core and integral part of client portfolios, to which they can further value-add through their own tactical asset allocation decisions.

Of course, all this could not have been achieved without a best-in-class set of processes and resources to meet the demands of its clients, rapidly, effectively, and with innovation.

Indeed, the Fidelity Enhanced Reserve Fund was a good example of how Fidelity International was able to move quickly to develop a solution in direct response to clients’ feedback. This suggests that Fidelity International, more than most, kept its ear to the ground and maintains the highest quality in its sales and investment teams when responding appropriately to clients’ needs.

Fidelity International has one of the largest global buy-side research networks with 410 investment professionals — including portfolio managers, traders, and analysts — and research support staff who cover 95% of the investable equity and fixed income universe.

In Asia alone, the firm continued to enhance the quality of its sales and servicing teams, via a number of key private banking-focused strategic hires in the past two years in what was a clear sign that the region’s private banking sector was at the heart of its business strategy.

As a result of the strategic hires, the firm was in a position to conduct numerous meetings as well as participate in several fund summits and client events during the period under consideration. This included the firm’s widely regarded Fidelity Asia Capabilities and Multi Asset Capabilities workshops.

Fidelity also organised due diligence workshops for fund selectors to enhance clients’ experience and portfolio manager access at the early stages of the selling process.

Fidelity International’s commitment to Asian private banking, at its simplest, is reflected in the fact that it is the provider of choice for core building blocks in client portfolios and for a large percentage of discretionary businesses in the region. Fidelity gets its basics right — it understands its clients and investors, and focuses on quality, speed to market, and relevance.

Congratulations to Fidelity International, Asian Private Banker’s House of the Year for 2020.