The home team

When it comes to the emerging markets, a locally-based boutique can offer better service, local knowledge and a flexibility that a large investment bank will struggle to match

Picture the following: two fund managers invest in emerging markets. The first sits in the asset management division of a blue chip investment bank's London or New York offices. They manage a $5bn emerging market fund, the emerging market portion of the bank's global equities products, the same in their balanced funds and maybe a couple of regional or country-specific funds. They sit on the global emerging markets investment committee, the global asset allocation committee and are obliged to attend the meetings of several other internal groups. They have a team of analysts who may or ...