HEAD-TO-HEAD: Aberdeen Standard versus JP Morgan

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Manager review

The ASI fund is managed by a seven-member team that is focused on Japan equities, which has an average of 10 years of investment experience, according to Ng, adding that there is no named lead manager of the fund.

However, Ng noted that the team is headed by Kwok Chern-Yeh, who assumed the role of head of the Japan equities in 2011. He has been with the firm since 2005 and became an investment manager in 2008. Kwok is also the firm’s deputy head of Asia-Pacific equities.

While the team has been very stable, Ng noted that the deputy head for Japan equities, Keita Kubota, left the firm in August.

While Kubota’s departure is a loss for the firm, Ng does not have any concerns over the ASI team, especially since Kwok has temporarily stepped back from his deputy head of Asia-Pacific equities duties to focus more on the Japan equities team.

Turning to the JP Morgan fund, Ng said that the product is co-managed by Schoichi Mizusawa, Nicholas Weindling and Miyako Urabe.

The lead manager is Weindling, who has been managing the fund since 2007. Mizusawa, who was named as co-manager during the same year, is also the firm’s head of Japan equities. Urabe became a manager in 2015 and joined the firm in 2013 from Credit Suisse Securities’ equity sales desk in Tokyo.

Ng has no concerns over the JP Morgan team given the managers’ experience and the huge resources that the firm has.

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