Asset Owner Survey Questions List 2023

All information collected will be used anonymously to create a global asset allocator EM strategy survey report. None of your name, your organization's name will be used nor disclosed.

General Information

  • AUM, Asset Allocation, Head-office location? (These can be pre-checked by referring to annual report)
  • What is your target return (%), target risk (%) and target liquidity threshold (% of asset needs to be liquidated in short term (3 months) and mid term (1 year))?
  • What is the split of internal (in-house direct) and external (manager selection) investment?
  • What is the split of active and passive managers?
  • How many investment professionals (front office) are in the internal and external team, respectively?
  • Do you have discretionary decision power on asset allocation strategy? Or it’s dictated by higher level? E.g. Ministry of Finance is making the highest level of allocation strategy for the next 10 years and the sovereign fund will make the 5 years tactical strategy.
  • Is there a threshold (such as bps of AUM) under which the investment team has discretionary investment decision without having to consult the CIO / IC?
  • How do you benchmark your private market investments? E.g. using traditional asset as a BM or using 3rd party private market BM.

EM Allocation Strategy

  • What is the percentage of external AUM allocated to EMs, at the time of investment?
  • How many investment professionals are involved in the EM investment?
  • What is the goal of your organization when investing in emerging managers?
  • How do you define EM? E.g. number of years since launched, max AUM etc.
    • Hedge Fund (e.g. 3 years since launching, AUM < $500M)
    • Private Equity (e.g. before fund 3)
  • How do you source emerging manager? e.g. cap intro event, 3rd party database, gatekeeper, consultant, existing manager network..
  • How do you evaluate EM during the selection? (e.g. track record, investment philosophy, scalability, reputation, current portfolio details etc.)
  • What is the current minimum ticket size ($MM)?
  • How fast do you expect the EM to scale up to become core manager?
  • Do you have a limit on percentage of AUM held in the EM? E.g. less than 20%.
  • What is the special investment terms when investing in EMs? E.g. holding shares of the EM, or profit sharing, or fee reduction etc.

Japan EM Investment

  • How many Japan based EMs have you invested in? And who are they if can be disclosed?
  • What do you consider to be the biggest barriers to investing in Japan-based emerging managers? E.g. language, investment structure, quality of investment team, strategy etc.
  • If you could invest in talented Japan-based emerging managers, which kind of strategies would be of interest to you?
  • How often do you travel to Japan for meeting with managers?
  • Will you be interested to join a Japanese EM matching event organized by FCT?

Technology Usage

  • How many people are in the in-house IT/tech team?
  • How do you aggregate the investment mandates reporting data from asset managers? E.g. via emails/Excels directly, or thru custodians, or using in-house/3rd party solution.
  • What is the usage of advanced tech, such as A.I.?