BT Investment Management (BTIM) is planning to have a larger exposure to Asian markets in its global fixed interest fund.
"The Asian markets such as China, India and Korea are opening up their money markets and there are a lot of reserves there, so we believe in the growth of money management within the Asian area," BTIM head of income and fixed interest Vimal Gor said.
"Those markets are also reminiscent of how Australia used to trade 15 years ago in terms of their volatility, so they offer lots of opportunities," he said.
BTIM has an advantage over its competitors because of its smaller scale, Gor said.
"We are able to compete there, while a lot of those markets are too small for our competitors to compete in. For example, PIMCO and Blackrock Investments can't get the size that they need to in those trades, because the markets are too small for them," Gor said.
BTIM's combined fixed interest businesses have about $13 billion in funds under management (FUM), while PIMCO and Blackrock manage several trillions in FUM.
BTIM's global fixed interest fund has about $1 billion in FUM. It is an internal fund that manages a mandate for BT Financial Group.
The fund manager combined the income, multi-strategies and macro boutiques of the asset manager into a single division in March this year.
Gor was appointed at the beginning of June to lead the combined business.
"I have long experience in the Asian markets and it makes sense for us to add more alpha out of those markets," he said.
He could not say when BTIM was likely to make changes to its allocations, because the firm is still in the middle of a product review.
