Winning Asset Management Company of the Year, Japan
Best ETF Provider, Japan and Best ETF Provider, Singapore
Nikko Asset Management (Nikko AM) garnered three awards at The Asset Triple A Sustainable Investing Awards 2023. On 4 May, the firm was recognised again as Asset Management Company of the Year, Japan, and on 11 May took home consecutive wins as both Best ETF Provider, Japan and Best ETF Provider, Singapore. The Asset, an influential industry publication about the asset management industry in Asia, selected the winners for each category looking at the period of 1 January to 31 December 2022 across all Asia-Pacific markets, including the Middle East.
This was the second time Nikko AM was chosen as Asset Management Company of the Year, Japan. The category evaluates asset managers based on their comprehensive investing platform across various asset classes, servicing the needs of institutional, corporate and retail clients. The judges also look at performance, innovation and ESG integration, and noted Nikko AM’s global in-house investment capabilities. Throughout 2022, the firm refined its ESG investment structure and became one of the first Asia-based asset managers to qualify globally as a signatory to the UK Stewardship Code, recognised by many as the highest global standard of stewardship. The firm also launched an actively managed equity fund on the theme of food and agriculture, noting the negative correlation with technology and other equities, and that food and agriculture are relatively resistant to inflation. Nikko AM also launched the “Tracers” series of funds, innovative for combining the “tracing” of an index with rule-based investing. They are the firm’s first funds designed for distribution exclusively via online distributors, and come with a lower trust fee, targeting retail investors. In corporate sustainability, President Stefanie Drews spoke at a number of events about helping women to advance their careers in asset management. Nikko AM became the first asset manager headquartered in Japan to join “LGBT Great”.
For the exchange traded fund (ETF) awards, The Asset looked at the scope of candidates’ ETF business, flagship and other ETFs and supporting services, leadership, ETF and business performance, partnerships, client engagement and other new initiatives. Nikko AM claims the spot of Best ETF Provider, Japan for a fourth consecutive year, holding a 19.68% share of all ETFs on the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE) as of 31 December 2022. During the award period, the Japan ETF Team listed five new ETFs, including the first Australian government bond ETFs1 and first France government bond ETFs1 listed in Japan, as well as an ETF tracking the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA).1 The team also leveraged the firm’s strength as a global asset manager as ETF teams in Japan and Singapore collaborated to make a number of Singapore ETFs available to retail investors in Japan, and then collaborated with Japanese distributors to promote them.
Nikko AM was also awarded Best ETF Provider, Singapore for the second year in a row, maintaining1 its Singapore ETF AUM despite the volatile market that was prone to outflows. The Singapore ETF team stepped up collaborations, both with Key Opinion Leaders in Singapore, and with Nikko AM counterparts in Japan to promote cross listings, serving to educate investors on Nikko AM ETFs and ETFs in general. Throughout the award period, the team also extensively promoted the NikkoAM-StraitsTrading MSCI China Electric Vehicles and Future Mobility ETF2, the first of its kind on the Singapore Stock Exchange (SGX) and the firm’s first thematic ETF on the SGX. It tracks an index jointly developed with MSCI collecting the 50 largest, multi-country listed Chinese companies expected to derive significant revenues from energy storage technologies, electric and autonomous vehicles, shared mobility and new transportation methods.
For the background and decision-making process of the awards please visit the award website. https://www.theasset.com/awards-single/asset-servicing-investor-fund-management
Past performance of the managers or funds is not necessarily indicative of their future performance.
Invested principal is not guaranteed, and the investor may incur a loss when the market transaction price or the fund’s base value (NAV) fall below the invested principal amount. All gains and losses stemming from management of the fund are attributed to the investor (beneficiary). This fund is different from bank deposits.
Different investment trusts invest in different asset classes, markets, and countries, and contain different investment restrictions, so the details of their risks differ accordingly.
1 According to Nikko AM research. These funds are not authorised by the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission, and hence are not available to Hong Kong retail investors. These funds are not registered for sale in Singapore.
2 This fund is not authorised by the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission, and hence is not available to Hong Kong retail investors. For Singapore investors, please refer to the Fund Prospectus and the Product Highlights Sheet for further details.