Report Summary

China figured prominently in investors’ outlooks for emerging economies at the start of 2013. Despite slower growth, investors are encouraged by the Chinese government’s efforts to create a dynamic, internally driven economy that can withstand weaker demand from developed economies. They are also taking it upon themselves to look more closely at the emerging-market asset class to determine where the greatest value lies. In this paper, we will discuss the new ways that investors are classifying and thinking about emerging markets.

Research Methodology

The survey questioned 730 executives worldwide. The respondents were based primarily in North America (29%), Asia-Pacific (29%), and Western Europe (26%), with the rest from the Middle East and Africa, Latin America and Eastern Europe. While the largest number of respondents came from the US (22%), 7% came from the UK and Canada, 5% from India, and 4% from each of the following countries: Australia, Brazil, China, Germany, South Korea, Japan and the United Arab Emirates. In total, investors and executives from 73 countries responded to the survey. In terms of seniority, 52% were at the “C-suite” level, 23% at the director level and 26% at the managerial level.

With respect to the size of the organisation, 50% were from companies with revenue of more than $500m per year, and 50% were from companies reporting less than $500m in annual revenue. The overwhelming majority (73%) of respondents came from the financial industry, with 11% from retail banking, 10% from asset management, and 9% from diversified banking institutions. Corporate banking, private equity/venture capital, financial services consulting and non-life insurance each represent 8% of respondents. A lesser number of responses were spread across other sub-sectors—such as wealth management, life insurance, real estate/leasing, broker-dealer and hedge funds.