Tracy Yu & team
Deutsche Bank
Hong Kong–based Tracy Yu, who guides the Deutsche Bank team up one rung to second place, “has good judgment calls about the expected trends of the sector,” observes one fund manager. The 14-member crew, with analysts working out of Bangkok, Hong Kong, Jakarta, Manila, Mumbai, Seoul and Sydney, reports on 86 stocks and plans to increase coverage throughout the year. “We see tightening banking sector liquidity and inflation as key investment risks in 2013, and hence prefer banks in markets such as Australia and Thailand that have encountered either major monetary policy relaxation or accelerated deposit growth,” Yu explains. Last month the team added China to its list of preferred markets, citing improving earnings at many institutions in that country, low valuations and high dividend yields. Top picks for the year include China Construction Bank Corp. and HSBC Holdings, which is headquartered in London but has a dominant presence across Asia.— Leslie Kramer