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Investors can no longer overlook the performance and influence of emerging markets (EM) in the global economy. After delivering robust returns in 2025 despite global volatility, selective parts of the EM debt universe deserve a bigger role in global allocations, say L&G’s Ben Bennett, head of investment strategy for Asia, and Uday Patnaik, head of Asia fixed income and global EM debt.

Rapid AUM growth has outpaced operational maturity across much of the Asia Pacific (APAC) pension fund sector, leaving many exposed as portfolios tilt further into illiquid assets. Strengthening collateral mobility, liquidity planning and connectivity with tri-party infrastructure is now central to long-term portfolio resilience, believe BNY’s Cherry Li and Nehal Mehra.

In a fluctuating and, frankly, precarious US macro environment, investors are rethinking where in the fixed income landscape to allocate. With diversification essential, we believe US securitised assets and subordinated bank debt offer key opportunities for asset allocators in Asia, say L&G’s Ben Bennett, head of investment strategy for Asia, and Jason Shoup, global co-head of fixed income.

With private credit no longer a niche investment strategy, but a core component of institutional portfolios worldwide, Macquarie Asset Management explores direct lending and infrastructure debt, including their distinctive features, trends fuelling their growth and the reasons these approaches are gaining traction among investors in Asia.

There is growing potential for European credit to play an increasingly important part of global fixed income portfolios, as resilient corporate fundamentals, attractive yields and supportive policy underpin valuations. L&G’s Ben Bennett, head of investment strategy for Asia, and Marc Rovers, head of European credit, explore how investors in Asia and globally seek to selectively capture diversified income opportunities in the region.

Credit events can happen when monetary policy shifts from very accommodative to a more restrictive stance such as the case over the past few years. The key to distinguishing assets such as true private credit from the broadly syndicated loan market, is understanding structures, underwriting standards and manager incentives, according to Tim Warrick, managing director, and head of Principal Alternative Credit.

With the US economy exhibiting higher inflation and interest rates, dynamic duration management is a powerful – and essential – tool for global bond portfolios, according to L&Gs Ben Bennett, head of investment strategy for Asia, and Ian Hutchinson, head of global bond strategies.

Amid the new investment mantra of diversification of equity allocations, there is growing demand for exposure to China’s innovation and transformation journey, according to BlackRock’s Andy Ng and Emerald Yau of FTSE Russell.

For structural and cyclical reasons ranging from yield to long duration cashflows to diversification to capital efficiency, investment grade (IG) private credit should be increasingly appealing to insurance portfolios in Asia, says James Hayes, head of the insurance client team for L&G Asset Management.

Amid growing allocations globally to private markets, the focus has shifted to more transparent and liquid access to assets. The goal is making them more transparent and investable, with recent index innovations by S&P Dow Jones Indices (S&P DJI) a key starting point, says Ari Rajendra, the firm’s head of private markets indices.

The rapid growth of the private credit market signals an asset class here to stay for institutional investors, say Laura Parrott, Head of Private Fixed Income, Nuveen.