Global Investment Trends Amid Uncertainty
Despite ongoing global uncertainties, high-net-worth individuals are showing continued interest in investment opportunities in Asia. This long-term perspective is evident even as retail investors are pulling back into cash due to concerns over Middle East conflicts and other economic factors.
Richard Oldfield, the global CEO of Schroders, highlighted that while there was a shift towards risk-off strategies among retail investors in March, high-net-worth clients remained focused on capturing returns through alternative assets and Asian markets. “What really happened in March was a shift into a risk-off, particularly from retail investors globally as people moved more into cash,” he said.
The sentiment changed after the US-Israel war with Iran began on February 28, which pushed oil prices above $100 a barrel. This conflict led to increased worries about inflation and its impact on the economy. The Hong Kong benchmark Hang Seng Index fell 7% in March, reflecting these concerns.
“Both retail and institutional investors invest in times when they are feeling confident, and they are certain about what is going on,” Oldfield explained. “Facing the uncertainty means they generally hold back from making investment decisions or allocating funds, and certainly retail investors, they’re often sitting on cash.”
Under such conditions, diversification and actively managed investment strategies offer the flexibility and bottom-up approach needed to reallocate capital within different classes to manage risk and capture returns, he added.
But Oldfield noted that high-net-worth clients, defined as those with at least $1 million in investible assets, were still pursuing investment opportunities in Asia, including private credit, digital assets, and other alternative investments. “The high-net-worth individuals can afford to invest for the longer term, so they are still eyeing investment opportunities that can bring them a good return,” he said, adding that Schroders had been seeing strong investment inflows into Asia in 2026.
Oldfield emphasized the importance of the merger between Schroders and Nuveen, as it could bring in more asset classes for clients. On Thursday, Schroders shareholders voted to accept a GBP9.9 billion (US$13.4 billion) acquisition offer from US asset manager Nuveen, ending more than 200 years of family ownership at the historic British asset manager.
After the merger is completed by the end of 2026, it will create a giant financial firm with about US$2.5 trillion of assets under management, based on the two firms’ data as at the end of last year. The new combined group would become Europe’s second-largest asset manager after Paris-based Amundi, which had US$2.7 trillion in assets under management, according to LSEG Data and Analytics.
Schroders will keep its brand after the merger, and Hong Kong and Asian clients would benefit from having more products and services as it could cross-sell Nuveen’s fixed income and private credit products, Oldfield said. He described the merger as a “beautiful combination” because the two firms complemented each other: Nuveen had 94% of its assets in the US, while Schroders was strong in Europe and Asia, with only about 17% of its business in the US.
“A fun fact is that the founders of Nuveen and Schroders were both born in Hamburg,” Oldfield said. John Nuveen emigrated from Germany to Chicago in 1866 at age two, and established the investment firm in 1898 with a focus on bond issuance. Schroders was founded in London in 1804 by Johann Heinrich Schroder and his brother, also from Hamburg.
One major growth engine for Schroders in the coming years would be retirement and income investment products, particularly for wealth clients, amid Hong Kong’s ageing population. People aged 65 and above accounted for 22% of the city’s 7.5 million residents in 2024, according to official data. Projections indicated that senior citizens would account for 31% of the population by 2036.
Schroders is one of the major investment managers for the Mandatory Provident Fund, which covers 4.8 million members, and it has also teamed up with HSBC to provide income-retirement products to support customers’ post-retirement financial needs in recent years.
“For many people, retirement is quite long, and you need to try to get capital growth besides preserving your assets and securing income in this part of the world,” he said.
