Japanese Asset Managers Bolster Asian Operations

To meet the growing demand among Asian investors for local investments—and in spite of the market’s downturn in February—Japanese asset managers are bolstering their offices in Asia, Nikkei Weekly reports.

Sumitomo Mitsui Asset Management, for one, is transferring its four-person Chinese stock mutual fund team from Tokyo to Hong Kong and plans to expand the team to 10 by September.

Likewise, DLIBJ Asset Management is setting up an office of five employees in Hong Kong, and Nomura Asset Management has partnered with a South Korean brokerage, Samsung Securities, to offer Japanese equity mutual funds there. Nomura has also just set up an office in Malaysia.