BNY Outlines Its 2025 Asia Investment Strategy

Like Edinburgh-based investment manager abrdn, Zoe Kan, portfolio manager of BNY Investment’s Asian Income fund, believes a dividend-focused approach offers a greater reward in Asia.

Although a lot of investors have historically focused on growth
stocks in Asia, Zoe Kan at BNY Investments
believes a dividend focused approach offers better rewards within
the region, and explains why she is overweight in Singapore and
Taiwan in 2025.

Despite the recent stimulus measures in China, the US
tech sell-off after China’s DeepSeek claimed advances in
artificial intelligence and India’s fast-growing economy, Kan
told this news service in an interview that she remains
underweight in India and China, due to their lesser focus on
dividends.

Kan believes that dividend paying firms are good, with
better governance, so she is overweight in Taiwan and Singapore
as they are bigger dividend payers. She also likes firms in
Australia, New Zealand and Indonesia, saying that Indonesian
banks, in particular, are attractive: “Valuations and
dividend yields are good.” She is optimistic about the
outlook for equities in these markets.

After US President Donald Trump’s administration recently imposed
additional tariffs on Canadian, Mexican and Chinese imports, Kan
said she looks at firms that are domestically-focused, without
much exposure to tariffs. Nevertheless, she has been looking at
some investment opportunities in China, saying valuations are
attractive there.

Kan referred to the US elections in November, and the
subsequent developments affecting global trade and the
introduction of tariffs. “Whilst that might increase uncertainty
and investor caution to Asia, we would focus on the long-term
opportunities available in Asia still from domestic growth
prospects, structural reform and demographic trends,” she
said. “China remains an important part of the global
economy, accounting for around 30 per cent of the world’s
manufacturing base.” 

BNY Investments Asian Income Fund

Kan manages the UK-domiciled BNY Investments Asian Income
fund which uses the FTSE Asia Pacific ex-Japan TR Index as a
reference index, with an income objective.

Top 10 holdings include Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing
Company (TSMC), the fund’s largest holding, as well as Korea’s
Samsung Electronics, the largest global producer of DRAM chips
which has benefited from the price increase of DRAM and NAND
flash memory chips, driven by demand for generative AI.

They also include Singapore-headquartered financial group DBS
Group Holdings, Indian conglomerate ITC, Singapore Technoligies
Engineering, National Australia Bank, Taiwan-headquartered tech
firm MediaTek and Indonesia’s PT Bank Mandiri (Persero) Tbk.

The fund is overweight in financials, followed by
telecommunications, real estate, utilities and consumer staples.

Yoojeong Oh, investment director of the abrdn Asian Income Fund (AAIF),
also remains underweight in China and India, due to their lesser
focus on dividends. She prefers markets in Taiwan, Singapore and
Australia, saying that they are the biggest dividend payers. See
more commentary
here.