HEAD-TO-HEAD: JP Morgan AM versus Schroders

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MANAGER REVIEW

The JP Morgan fund has been led by Jeffrey Roskell since its inception in 2013. Roskell, who is also the head of emerging markets and Asia-Pacific Income, has 28 years of investment experience, including 20 years of investing in Asian equities, according to Share.

He is supported by co-managers Julie Ho and Ruben Lienhard, who shouldered Roskell’s management duties during his 2018-2019 sabbatical.

“While Roskell is very experienced, the co-managers are relatively inexperienced money managers, but this is not a key concern of ours,” Share said, noting that the co-managers supported the strategy as analysts prior to their promotions.

The trio is supported by a sizable EMAP team, which has 37 sector or product analysts and 28 country specialists.

“This is a well-regarded team from our perspective as it contributes to a number of successful strategies and has been relatively stable over the years,” Share said.

Turning to the Schroders fund, the offering has been managed by King Fuei Lee for 15 years since its inception, according to Share.

Like the JP Morgan managers, Lee is supported by a sizable team consisting of 36 analysts covering Asia-Pacific (ex-Japan).

According to Share, there have been some analyst departures since 2017, but noted that most of them had a China or Korea remit.

“The recent departures stemmed from the Shanghai-based China analyst team, which focuses on the A-share market, a market that the Schroder ISF Asian Equity Yield product has minimal exposure to.

“Nonetheless, it’s worth monitoring whether the team instability would impact fund performance,” she said.

Share added that Raymond Macquire, head of research, also left Schroders in March this year. But he has been replaced by Adam Osborne, who is an experienced and long-tenured member on the team.

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