Z-Ben ranked the top 25 global investment managers after polling 100 firms based on the weighted scores of their three business lines in China: the onshore business, inbound and outbound business.
The study is an assessment of the relative strengths and weaknesses of asset managers in China.
Here’s the top five of the overall ranking and on each category:
| Ranking | Overall | Onshore | Outbound | Inbound |
| 1 | JP Morgan | JP Morgan | Schroders | Samsung |
| 2 | UBS | UBS | JP Morgan | Societe Generale |
| 3 | BNP Paribas | Invesco | Franklin Templeton | Blackrock |
| 4 | Invesco | Eurizon | Invesco | BNP Paribas |
| 5 | Schroders | Deutsche AM | Blackrock | HSBC |
Each of the three categories is assigned a weighting that is based on its importance to current and future China strategy.
Managing director Peter Alexander said some Asian managers scored higher than their total assets under management, which reflects their strategic plans in China.
Only five of the top 25 companies are from Asia. Japanese Nikko Asset Management was ranked 11th, while Hong Kong-based Value Partners was in 13th place, Samsung 17th, DBS 21st and Sumitomo Mitsui 25th.
The latter three showed little or no outbound business.
On the other hand, the absence of some global giants, such as Vanguard, State Street and Fidelity, might largely be due to low activity levels in some of the business areas, the firm said.
China AM potential
JP Morgan had the highest overall final score with 51.
Alexander said that suggests “China is likely to be the one geography where gains will come in scales large enough to allow good strategists and executors to leapfrog larger competitors.”
The advisory firm believes the onshore investment business will become the most important opportunity among the three business lines over the next three years.
