West to East… East to West.

While much of the growth in coming years will be driven by emerging markets and a growing class of middle class and HNW investors there, Asian institutions are also taking aim again at breaking into Europe and the US – Singapore, the “Switzerland of the East”, taking the lead.

This week GIC chairman Tony Tan Keng-Yam, speaking in Davos, talked about a “new golden age” for Asia and a “once in a lifetime” opportunity for Asian financial institutions to take market share away from its global competitors. Journalists in op-eds this weekend commenting on the mood at the WEF noted the growing pride and economic muscle of emerging markets.

In the asset management industry we have seen this trend for some time now. Temasek’s fund manager Fullerton already manages a few billion dollars in external money and last year opened its doors to retail clients in Singapore – in addition, Gerard Lee is intent on growing its 5% European AUM to a much higher number via Cayman and Luxembourg UCIT vehicles.

All in all, more institutions are waking up to the very attractive asset management business globally. Hedge funds are launching UCITS III (‘newcits’) structures to diversify their asset and client base, Asian managers are building offshore fund lines to penetrate developed markets just like US and European managers in recent years have started to push offshore products to Asian clients via hubs in Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan; and Chinese firms are setting up shop in Hong Kong to market their expertise abroad.

Not to be outdone, Osama Bin Laden this weekend posted a video talking about global warming and global currencies. Interesting times.