Asia has emerged as a competitive and volatile battleground for asset managers, driven by rapid digital adoption and rising private wealth against a backdrop of intensifying geopolitical tensions according to law firm Ropes & Gray.
Asset managers are responding with content marketing to build brand trust and differentiate their offerings with diverse investor target groups. The market environment now requires integrated marketing strategies with asset managers scrutinizing which digital platforms best deliver and localise their thought leadership content throughout Asia to actively engage clients.
Be where your clients are online
As a result, Asian asset managers are creating content specifically for digital platforms that closely align with regional user behaviour. For example YouTube dominates in markets like Singapore, where 90% of the population uses the platform daily.
Fidelity Investments Singapore has tapped this opportunity and generated more than 2.6 million views since 2021 through market update videos that blend macroeconomic analysis with actionable investor insights. These videos cater to financially sophisticated audiences seeking real-time investment guidance, positioning Fidelity as a trusted source amid market volatility.
Meanwhile at the entry-level of the investor scale, Instagram’s younger demographic (85% of Singaporean users are aged 16–24) has prompted Singaporean bank UOB Group to adopt visually driven, educational content. UOB’s “ASEAN story” campaign simplifies complex financial topics, targeting first-time investors with bite-sized tutorials. This strategy builds brand affinity and kickstarts long-term client relationships by addressing the financial literacy gap among younger audiences.
Let AI crunch the data to hyper-personalise client content
Generative AI is reshaping content marketing by enabling hyper-personalised client interactions. Accenture’s 2024 analysis highlights 50% of Asian investors seek tailored content such as AI analsyed client portfolios to generate customised reports.
A great example of this is HSBC leveraging tokenization to create personalized investment strategies for high net-worth individuals (HNWIs) and show this with dynamic content that adapts to individual risk profiles.
Innovation like this better serves the client while reducing operational costs by automating routine communication.
“ $US 3.3 trillion in AUM (held by 30% of Asia’s HNWIs) would change their wealth management provider if greater personalisation was available to them”
Other advice for financial marketers can be found closer to home with Aberdeen Investments senior digital marketing manager in Singapore, Jave Lin, explaining how he has fused the power of AI with video marketing to become a marketing industry influencer in his own right while taking these key learnings back into his day job at Aberdeen.
Lin says video marketing and AI are two of the hottest trends shaping the future of marketing. As these two powerful forces converge, marketers are exploring innovative ways to leverage AI to streamline and enhance their video marketing efforts. But he cautioned AI is not the universal problem solver.
“It’s crucial to remember AI should be seen as a powerful tool to augment human creativity and expertise, not as a complete replacement.” said Lin.
What makes good thought leadership and how to use it
Thought leadership is the process of creating and sharing expert insights via innovative content to build credibility and authority. In the finance industry providing in-depth research remains a cornerstone of thought leadership.
As reported in Asia Asset Management, Principal Asset Management’s Greater China Equity Fund, which has outperformed its benchmark by 86% since 2007, attributes its success to “thought leadership through early identification of growth prospects”.
The firm publishes quarterly whitepapers analyzing sectoral trends, such as the impact of China’s regulatory reforms on tech equities, to position itself as a market authority.
An example of award-winning thought leadership comes from Aviva Investors with it’s annually released “Little Book of Data” which uses beautiful data visualisations and charts to illustrate the forces shaping the investment landscape.
Aviva states while it’s critical to have the data necessary to arrive at the right outcomes. “But data is not enough on its own. To be valuable, it must be organised and presented clearly and accurately. Good data visualisation can help with this by illustrating important themes and highlighting overlooked trends.”
[Full disclosure: “Little Book Of Data” is made by the publisher of this industry blog and finance marketing group – The Dubs Agency, using Aviva Investors research and data.]
Turning regulatory compliance into educational content
Asset management as an industry is inherently soaked in complex regulatory compliance issues. Added to this Asia has pain points from fragmented regional regulations and cross-border enforcement issues.
Groups such as Waystone, which provide institutional governance and compliance services to the asset management industry, turn their industry knowledge into thought leadership content to showcase their expertise and be recognised as industry leaders.
An example of this is how Waystone uses webinars to demystify complex issues such as AML/KYC best practices to educate asset managers on how to build trust with institutional clients navigating Asia’s regulatory regimes.
Leading investor conversation on investment innovations
Asset managers can show genuine competitive difference by leading industry conversations around cutting edge investment innovations. For example, HSBC’s 2025 whitepaper in partnership with Calastone, Marketnode and Northern Trust, on tokenized portfolios illustrates how blockchainfractional ownership appeals to Asia’s HNWIs, by giving them ready access to illiquid assets like private equity.
Content marketing around tokenization educates investors on benefits such as enhanced liquidity and transparency, differentiating HSBC in the market by demonstrating the benefit of being an early adopter in a competitive market.
Building Asian and global investment brands
According to the Global Head of Marketing & Sales at Korea’s Mirae Asset Global Investments, Blair Abbott, successfully building an investment brand in the highly competitive and constantly shifting landscape where capturing investor attention is the prize requires crafting a powerful story and articulating its value proposition.
The challenge was to take Mirae’s position as the leading Korean ETF provider and build it into a recognised global ETF major player. Mirae is now the world’s 12th largest ETF provider with US$140 billion in assets under management (AUM)
“ Creating a global brand is a strategic journey. An ever-evolving story of growth and identity that resonates with investors across continents. Blair Abbott, Mirae Asset Global Investments.”
Abbott points out that as the battle for investor attention has increasingly shifted online, digital engagement with investors has become the new frontier.
He said that by leveraging cutting-edge digital tools such as data analytics, targeted content delivery, and AI, asset management brands can engage with investors in meaningful and memorable ways.
“In 2025 and beyond, a firm must navigate the digital landscape cleverly, analyzing investor behaviours through sophisticated data analytics to craft strategies that effectively capture attention in a crowded marketplace. AI-powered tools enhance marketing efforts efficiency and creativity, enabling more dynamic and responsive interactions with investors.” Abbott.
What this all means for asset managers
Asian asset managers face equally important and competing challenges. They must navigate a fragmented regulatory landscape and capture investor opportunities in the world’s fastest-growing wealth market.
Content marketing has emerged as a vital tool for asset managers to promote thought leadership and foster client trust through data-driven research and harness digital innovations like AI hyper-personalisation and tokenization.
Partnering with finance marketing experts: The Dubs Agency
Navigating the complexities of financial digital marketing is daunting. At The Dubs Agency, we specialise in helping B2B finance brands unlock the full potential of strategic digital marketing. From data-driven campaigns to personalised lead-gen strategies, we deliver results you can measure. Ready to transform your marketing efforts? Contact The Dubs Agency today to learn how we can help.
