Time makes fools of us all and so determining which funds will perform best over a forthcoming 12-month period is no easy feat.
However, that is exactly what the FSA awards aim to do as each year we shortlist a number of funds using FE fundinfo data and then an independent panel of professionals from Asia’s fund selector community choose the winners based on the funds they think will outperform in the next 12 months from June 2022 to June 2023.
So how did our judges fare in 2023 for the Singapore awards? On the whole, not too shabby. Most (16 out of 28) funds selected by the judges outperformed their peers, with some clear trends emerging.
The FSA award picks for Asia Pacific Equity, China Equity, Japanese Equity and Regional Emerging Market Equity all outperformed their respective peer groups. This suggests the judges’ knowledge of funds operating in their local equity markets might have played a role in their ability to pick top performing funds.
| FSA Award | Asset Class | Fund | Return (%) | Sector return (%) | Result |
| Platinum | Asia Pacific Equity | Matthews Asia Small Companies | 6.61 | 0.84 | Outperformed |
| Gold | Asia Pacific Equity | Nikko AM Shenton Emerging Enterprise Discovery | 5.69 | 0.84 | Outperformed |
| Platinum | Emerging Market Bond | Robeco Sustainable Emerging Credits | 3.49 | 3.45 | Outperformed |
| Gold | Emerging Market Bond | Pictet Asian Local Currency Debt | 0.67 | 4.61 | Underperformed |
| Platinum | European Equity | Nordea 1 Nordic Equity Small Cap | 1.6 | 8.97 | Underperformed |
| Gold | European Equity | Quaero Capital Argonaut | -0.38 | 8.97 | Underperformed |
| Platinum | Global Bond | Nanjia Capital SAC Ltd ATAF SAC | 4.93 | 0.3 | Outperformed |
| Gold | Global Bond | T. Rowe Price Dynamic Global Bond | -5.89 | -0.15 | Underperformed |
| Platinum | Global Emerging Market Equity | EFG Hermes Middle East & Developing Africa | 4.37 | 1.4 | Outperformed |
| Gold | Global Emerging Market Equity | BNY Mellon Global Emerging Markets Opportunities | 0.61 | 1.4 | Underperformed |
| Platinum | Global Equity | LO TerreNeuve | -10.89 | 0.66 | Underperformed |
| Gold | Global Equity | Wellington Global Stewards | 18.79 | 11.22 | Outperformed |
| Platinum | Greater China/China Equity | Schroder ISF All China Equity | -17.36 | -23.11 | Outperformed |
| Gold | Greater China/China Equity | Value Partners China A Share Select | -22.35 | -23.11 | Outperformed |
| Platinum | High Yield | GAM FCM Cat Bond Premier T0 | 3.05 | 8.88 | Underperformed |
| Gold | High Yield | Pimco Asia High Yield Bond | 4.85 | 1.54 | Outperformed |
| Platinum | Japanese Equity | Alma Eikoh Japan Large Cap Equity | 32.52 | 14.18 | Outperformed |
| Gold | Japanese Equity | DWS Invest CROCI Japan LC | 30.54 | 14.18 | Outperformed |
| Platinum | Mixed Asset | The Partners Group SCIAV | 9.3 | 1.68 | Outperformed |
| Gold | Mixed Asset | Value Partners Asian Innovation Opportunities A Unhedged | 21.74 | 1.68 | Outperformed |
| Platinum | Regional Bond | Invesco European Senior Loan HH (USD) Hedged in US | 11.95 | 2.18 | Outperformed |
| Gold | Regional Bond | Robeco Financial Institutions Bonds Feeder Zero Duration | 5.6 | 2 | Outperformed |
| Platinum | Regional/Single Country Emerging Market Equity | Wellington India Focus Equity GDU | 14.33 | 12.24 | Outperformed |
| Gold | Regional/Single Country Emerging Market Equity | Schroder ISF Emerging Asia A1 | -6.03 | -7.61 | Outperformed |
| Platinum | Sector Equity | Partners Group Global Value SICAV | 6.8 | 5.51 | Outperformed |
| Gold | Sector Equity | Jul Baer Multicooperation SICAV GAM Commodity | -11.87 | 4.77 | Underperformed |
| Platinum | US Equity | MS INVF US Core Equity | 10.93 | 13.46 | Underperformed |
| Gold | US Equity | BlackRock GF US Small & Mid Cap Opportunities A2 | 11.41 | 12.41 | Underperformed |
The Japanese funds were by far the best performing picks by the judges over the period. Both Alma Eikoh Japan Large Cap Equity (32.5%) and DWS Invest CROCI Japan (30.5%) managed to more than double the return of their peer group average of 14.2%.
When it comes to global markets, the results were mixed. One of the long-only global equity funds, Wellington Global Stewards, outperformed its peer group over the 12-month period, whereas the long-short strategy LO TerreNeuve underperformed its benchmark and peer group with a 10.9% loss over the period.
Both of the Platinum and Gold awarded funds in the US equity and European equity sector underperformed their peer groups. The US market in particular, is known for being one of the most competitive equity markets to beat.
One outlier among the awarded funds was Value Partners Asian Innovation Opportunities, which beat its benchmark by a over 20%. This fund invests in Asian small and mid-cap companies as well as fixed income securities of these companies.
These managers focus on businesses that they deem related to innovative technologies and run a higher level of concentration than the peer group. Its largest holding, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, made up 9.6% of its portfolio by the end of June 2023.
It also runs a relatively high exposure to equities versus fixed income, with almost 90% of its assets in equities, versus just 3% in fixed income securities.
