Michael Spencer & team Deutsche Bank
The buy side says: “He focuses on real themes without getting lost in the noise.”
The Deutsche Bank quartet under Hong Kong–based Michael Spencer rises one notch to No. 1. The team is praised for its “deep knowledge of international monetary policy,” as one ally puts it. Spencer, 49, believes the key issues in coming months are the recoveries in Europe and the U.S., given Asia’s reliance on exports to fuel growth. The team is advising clients to be long equities because “over the next year central banks will get more comfortable with growth and start raising interest rates,” he adds. Within Asia, “there’s a rotation out of what people have perceived to be more defensive countries, such as Indonesia and the Philippines, and into countries that are more sensitive to the export turnaround — namely Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan and Korea.” Spencer joined Deutsche Bank in 1997 after seven years at the International Monetary Fund in Washington. He earned a Ph.D. in economics at Canada’s Queen’s University. — Carolyn Koo
