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Morningstar has announced a list of illustrious winners for the Morningstar Awards for Investing Excellence – Hong Kong 2025 to recognize funds and asset managers that have not only delivered strong risk-adjusted returns in the past but are also deemed capable of serving investors well going forward.
In extending her congratulations to all the winners of this year’s awards, Germaine Share, Director, Manager Research, emphasizes the need to focus on a fund’s forward-looking potential, as past performance is not a guarantee of the future. As such, the rigorous selection process is underpinned by the Morningstar Medalist Rating, a forward-looking, independent rating for funds, which represents Morningstar’s manager research analysts’ expectation of the fund’s ability to generate positive alpha over the market over the long term.
“The winners represent some of the industry’s top-notch fund offerings and investor-friendly firms that have done a great job for investors, and that we think should continue to serve them well in the long run,” she says.
Winners Recognition
iShares Core MSCI Asia ex Japan ETF, which tracks the MSCI AC Asia ex Japan Index, won the Best Asia Equity Fund Award. The ETF offers representative and broadly diversified exposure to Asia ex-Japan equities at a competitive fee level. “The ETF is managed by iShares’ experienced passive management team in Hong Kong. They are backed by the firm’s comprehensive resources and sophisticated infrastructure,“ Share observes.
Another passive offering, Tracker Fund of Hong Kong, went home with the Best China Equity Fund Award. The strategy tracks the Hang Seng Index which saw record investor interest on the back of the announcement of some stimulus measures from China. “With an ongoing charge of just seven basis points, the ETF is the most cost-efficient passive vehicle tracking the Hang Seng Index. It is managed by Hang Seng Investment Management’s indexing team, who have lowered fees and bolstered resourcing since they took over the fund’s management in 2022,” she adds.
On the winner of the Best and Asian Bond Fund Award, PIMCO GIS Global Bond, Share says her team is impressed by its savvy lead manager – Pimco’s CIO of global fixed income mandates Andrew Balls, who is backed by veteran co-managers Sachin Gupta and Lorenzo Pagani. The team is well-equipped to cover rates, currencies, corporates, and structured credit. Share notes, “The strategy benefits from deep resources, including over 80 credit research analysts. The process is differentiated from peers via its considerable flexibility, and the managers have demonstrated considerable skill corporate credit, securitized bonds, and currencies over the long-term.”
Fidelity Funds – Global Dividend Fund, won the Best Global Equity Fund Award. Share comments that it has been managed by Dan Roberts since its 2012 inception. Roberts relies heavily on his own research groundwork, but also leverages the insights of assistant portfolio manager Tristan Purcell, Fidelity’s sector analysts, and the global dividend team. She continues, “Its investment approach stands out for its combination of a focus on quality with a valuation-conscious mindset. It provides investors with a dividend yield at least 125% that of the MSCI AC World Index while limiting downside risk.”
The Best Asset Manager Award went to Capital Group, a familiar name of the awards program. Share says, “Capital Group embodies many traits we value in an asset manager, including having an excellent alignment of interests with investors through fund managers’ personal investment, a hallmark multimanager approach that helps minimize key-person risk, and a deep bench of seasoned investment professionals who have contributed to the consistent outperformance of its fund lineup available in Hong Kong.”
2025 Morningstar Awards for Investing Excellence award winners in Hong Kong
Morningstar Category Awards
Best Asia Equity Fund
iShares Core MSCI Asia ex Japan ETF
Morningstar Medalist Rating: Bronze
Best China Equity Fund
Tracker Fund of Hong Kong ETF
Morningstar Medalist Rating: Bronze
Best Global Equity Fund
Fidelity Global Dividend A-MInc(G)-HKD
Morningstar Medalist Rating: Bronze
Best Global and Asian Bond Fund
PIMCO GIS Glb Bd M Retl HKD Unhdgd Inc
Morningstar Medalist Rating: Silver
Best Asset Manager Awards
Capital Group
Morningstar’s Quick Guide to Fund Selection
The Morningstar Medalist Rating is the summary expression of Morningstar’s analysis of investment strategies based on three pillars: People, Process and Parent. The rating system relies on qualitative analysis or algorithmic techniques that mimic analyst decision-making - or a combination of both - to assign the pillar ratings. The rating is set on a five-tier scale running from Gold to Negative at the share class level. For actively managed funds, Morningstar assigns Gold, Silver, and Bronze ratings to vehicles expected to add value, or “positive alpha,” over the long term when compared with their Morningstar Category index after accounting for fees and risk. For passive strategies, Morningstar assigns Gold, Silver, and Bronze ratings to vehicles expected to deliver alpha that exceeds the lesser of their category median net alpha, or zero, over the long term.
Germaine Share, Director, Manager Research, Asia.
