Jun Ma  Deutsche Bank

The buy side says: “Ma’s analysis is timely, and recent-year forecasts have been correct.”

Ruling the roost for a second consecutive year is Jun Ma, 47; he also captures third-place honors in Portfolio Strategy. The Deutsche Bank economist “is usually one of the quickest to publish reports after some economic events happen,” observes one buy-side enthusiast. Case in point: In October, on the same day that the ­People’s Bank of China raised its benchmark interest rate for the first time since December 2007, in an attempt to curb inflation, Ma told clients that the move signalled the beginning of a new rate-hike cycle and advised them to be cautious on sectors that are sensitive to interest rate fluctuations — particularly banks and real estate. The central bank since raised rates three times, from 5.31 percent in October to 6.31 percent in April; during the same period the financial services sector trailed China’s broad market by 2.3 percentage points and real estate lagged by 6.6 points.