Wealth managers put faith in Emerging Market Equities

Wealth managers believe that Emerging Market Equities will be the best performing asset class over the next 12 months, according to a poll conducted at the iShares Private Banking Breakfast Seminar.

43% of those polled believed that emerging market equities will outperform all other asset classes in the next year. Wealth managers also placed faith in commodities, with 21% predicting that they will fare best over the next 12 months. There was also some support for fixed income, with 15% of respondents picking out corporate bonds and 9% highlighting inflation-linked securities as potential top performers over the period.

In the alternatives space, wealth managers singled out Infrastructure (18%), Hedge Funds (13%) and Property (12%) as the asset classes they expect to incorporate into client portfolios in the next year.

The poll was conducted by iShares, the world's leading Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) provider, during a breakfast seminar at which members of the private banking and wealth management industry listened to presentations on how to employ both active and passive instruments to achieve risk-balanced portfolios.

Speaking at the event, Nizam Hamid, Head of Sales Strategy for iShares commented: "Net flows into emerging market ETFs in the current year are almost three times higher than for the whole of 2008 and are outpacing flows into developed market equities.

"ETFs are an ideal tool for managers to take positions in regions or asset classes quickly and efficiently, and for those looking to add an element of consistent, benchmark-neutral and riskcontrolled return to their portfolios."