The key to commanding attention in Hong Kong's crowded marketplace for retail investment funds, according to Geneva-based fund manager Pictet Asset Management, is to offer 'themed' funds built on mandates that are clear and transparent to investors.
'We are a specialist in asset management and good in emerging markets - but of course there are a lot of competitors in this space,' said Amy Cho, Pictet's regional head of business development Asia ex-Japan.
'So to build our brand we have positioned ourselves as a theme fund specialist and the key themes we are offering are built around three global trends, namely climate change, demographics, and the global security threat.'
Pictet Asset Management is the institutional asset management division of the Swiss private banking group Pictet & Cie, and opened for business in Hong Kong last month.
Ms Chow said concerns over climate change had led to a rapid growth in companies offering such things as clean energy alternatives and water-saving technologies. With governments under pressure to support such 'clean and green' technology, the outlook for such companies was positive.
'We can expect governments to put in place policy measures including tax incentives to support this infrastructure development, and we can also expect these companies to have a more or less assured income - as well as suppliers to these companies,' she said.
But while the logic of that argument may be sound, investors may have some difficulty judging how well it translates into practice since there is no ready benchmark against which to judge a 'clean energy' fund.
