William Dong & team
UBS
First-place appearances: 8

Total appearances: 22

Team debut: 1994

Although UBS slips back to second place on this roster after a year at No. 1, it stands alone as the only firm to have earned a position in a single sector every year since the All-Asia Research Team was introduced, in 1994. Led by Taipei-based William Dong, the ten-member troupe, which is assisted by six regional analysts in monitoring some 80 Taiwanese names, provides “the most credible, comprehensive and unbiased perspective,” according to one portfolio manager. In January 2013 the analysts added to their most-preferred list Taipei-based CTBC Financial Holding Co., a diversified financial services provider that maintains significant foreign currency loan operations. The shares were oversold, they believed, and CTBC would benefit from its exposure to a potential rise in interest rates. Less than six months later, rates did indeed begin to climb, and by late April, CTBC’s shares had advanced to 18.50 New Taiwan dollars, rising 33 percent and beating the country’s broad market by 18.4 percentage points. “They were the first to leverage the steepening yield curve,” notes another buy-side ally. In April the UBS crew added Far Eastern Department Stores, a Taipei-based department store chain, to its roster of favorites, citing upward trends in domestic consumption.