Warren Enskat Group

President Obama on Tuesday in his State of the Union address will touch on five “pillars” to ensure the competitiveness and growth of the US: innovation, education, infrastructure, deficit reduction, reforming government.

Preparing for meetings in the Philippines, Thailand, Brunei and Singapore this week – before heading to Miami for two days and then back to Hong Kong – I contemplated the state of the global mutual fund union and its pillars.

Over the last few months I have continued my global meetings with governments, institutional investors and intermediary professional fund buyers and some of the pillars they outlined to me match President Obama’s.

Education: Distributors and institutions all emphasize their need for help in educating investors. While hot themes and great short-term performance are often in the limelight (and a key success factor for quarterly product placement), effective service and creative ways to ensure long-term education of the industry and its investors are the determining factors for developing strategic partnerships (of which there are fewer post-crisis).

Innovation: Not just on the all important product front, but in all aspects of doing business – the use of mobile technologies, tailored information delivery, creative and fast market updates, thought leadership around memorable stories, or marketing campaigns.

Infrastructure: For the fund industry, the biggest infrastructure components of business success are streamlining internal decision making globally and allowing business development teams room to build complex multi-regional and multi-business unit relationships over multi-year time periods (discussed in-depth as headquarter centricity, speed of response time in an age of compliance paranoia, lost in translation and CDA teams in “the Seven Secrets of Distribution”).

Deficit reduction: While counterintuitive, there is a parallel for the fund industry as well. The leading fund firms during the crisis quickly increased their resources to hire the key people that were let go by firms that downsized to reduce fixed costs. This turned out to be a double-whammy, because the firms that invested during the crisis not only got great deals for talented people (that are grateful for the job), but they only proved their commitment to their clients when others pulled back. Thus, getting back to the theme of deficits, these firms responded swiftly with major investments in the downturn and are now reaping the rewards as their products reach blockbuster status.

Reforming government: The fund industry is in the midst of their own meaningful reform process. Within the European Union, UCITS are at a crossroads as the discussion between traditional and alternative investment vehicles heats up. While all absorbing within Europe, the industry should not forget that here in Asia regulators, associations, fund buyers and asset managers alike are closely observing the discussion. Moreover, as the metatrends of a growing global middle class in the region and a trend West-to-East and East-to-West take shape, Asia is thinking strategically where the developed world is thinking short-term. Following the discussions of a variety of Asia passports and China gateways, Asia is going on the offensive.

HK Invest in March is holding a seminar on the advantages of Hong Kong as the regional financial services hub and gateway into China with participation by the government, the regulator, and the industry. Where? In the heart of New York.

The asset management’s state of the union does look brighter than that of the US, but the pillars are essentially the same.

Tune in on Tuesday and listen to President Obama’s advice for the fund industry.

President Obama on Tuesday in his State of the Union address will touch on five “pillars” to ensure the competitiveness and growth of the US: innovation, education, infrastructure, deficit reduction, reforming government.

Preparing for meetings in the Philippines, Thailand, Brunei and Singapore this week – before heading to Miami for two days and then back to Hong Kong – I contemplated the state of the global mutual fund union and its pillars.

Over the last few months I have continued my global meetings with governments, institutional investors and intermediary professional fund buyers and some of the pillars they outlined to me match President Obama’s.

Education: Distributors and institutions all emphasize their need for help in educating investors. While hot themes and great short-term performance are often in the limelight (and a key success factor for quarterly product placement), effective service and creative ways to ensure long-term education of the industry and its investors are the determining factors for developing strategic partnerships (of which there are fewer post-crisis).

Innovation: Not just on the all important product front, but in all aspects of doing business – the use of mobile technologies, tailored information delivery, creative and fast market updates, thought leadership around memorable stories, or marketing campaigns.

Infrastructure: For the fund industry, the biggest infrastructure components of business success are streamlining internal decision making globally and allowing business development teams room to build complex multi-regional and multi-business unit relationships over multi-year time periods (discussed in-depth as headquarter centricity, speed of response time in an age of compliance paranoia, lost in translation and CDA teams in “the Seven Secrets of Distribution”).

Deficit reduction: While counterintuitive, there is a parallel for the fund industry as well. The leading fund firms during the crisis quickly increased their resources to hire the key people that were let go by firms that downsized to reduce fixed costs. This turned out to be a double-whammy, because the firms that invested during the crisis not only got great deals for talented people (that are grateful for the job), but they only proved their commitment to their clients when others pulled back. Thus, getting back to the theme of deficits, these firms responded swiftly with major investments in the downturn and are now reaping the rewards as their products reach blockbuster status.

Reforming government: The fund industry is in the midst of their own meaningful reform process. Within the European Union, UCITS are at a crossroads as the discussion between traditional and alternative investment vehicles heats up. While all absorbing within Europe, the industry should not forget that here in Asia regulators, associations, fund buyers and asset managers alike are closely observing the discussion. Moreover, as the metatrends of a growing global middle class in the region and a trend West-to-East and East-to-West take shape, Asia is thinking strategically where the developed world is thinking short-term. Following the discussions of a variety of Asia passports and China gateways, Asia is going on the offensive.

HK Invest in March is holding a seminar on the advantages of Hong Kong as the regional financial services hub and gateway into China with participation by the government, the regulator, and the industry. Where? In the heart of New York.

The asset management’s state of the union does look brighter than that of the US, but the pillars are essentially the same.

Tune in on Tuesday and listen to President Obama’s advice for the fund industry.