J.P. Morgan AM: Targeting Investors Who Value Long-Term Investment

Our analysts think J. P. Morgan Asset Management is a well-resourced, thoughtful, and disciplined steward of client assets. “The firm’s investment teams are robustly staffed and helmed by seasoned contributors, its strategies tend to produce reliable portfolios, and several flagship offerings are Morningstar Medalists. Further, manager incentives are aligned with fundholders’ and compensation reflects longer-term performance factors.”

We therefore spoke to Henry Tong, CEO of J.P. Morgan Asset Management Taiwan to talk about his approach in navigating the Taiwan market and his expectations for the market.

Perseverance and Willingness to Letting Go

In Tong's office, a pair of calligraphy works hang on the wall, with "Perseverance" on the left and "Willingness to Let Go" on the right. It's easy to understand the former, that is, setting a goal and not giving up, but how does one let go?

The two seemingly opposite ideas show how Tong has been navigating the Taiwan market.

“In my position, I need to give my team a longer-term direction and vision. The trade-off I'm talking about is knowing exactly what the potential consequences are when making a strategic decision, and the cost can be huge. You may be thinking that if you don't do a certain strategy or product, do you want to do it? The reason we are willing to slow down and stop and study again is that we believe in putting the interest of our investors first, there are better opportunities ahead.”

Tong said that J.P. Morgan's decision to launch products in Taiwan is not based on short-term trends or topics. "We rarely launch products based on short-term trends. For example, over a year ago, many sustainable products were launched in Taiwan. It's not that we don't do it. It's that we've been going our own way and developing our own internal ESG scoring system. There are many examples of this – a few years ago, fixed maturity products were trending."

Putting Investors' Interests First

“I believe we have the broadest product line in Taiwan, meaning that investors can find investment strategies or products of J.P. Morgan that deliver a relatively strong performance in almost any economic market cycle," he continued.

Apart from allocating resources to research and understand a product, to protect the investors’ interest, Tong also considers the fee level. Most clients buy funds from banks and other channels, so it is natural for the asset management company to focus mostly on taking care of such extensive distribution networks.

When J.P. Morgan set its footprint in Taiwan 38 years ago, the firm already had a direct distribution platform on the island. This year, in response to the new digital trend, the J.P. Morgan team brings better investment solutions and services onto the platform.

Allocating for the Long Term

Starting this year, investors can subscribe to five Taiwan-domiciled funds available on JPMorgan's Direct investment platform at fee levels lower than those available through banks and other channels.

1. JPMorgan Asia Fund

2. JPMorgan (Taiwan) New Technology Fund

3. JPMorgan (Taiwan) Global Growth Fund

4. JPMorgan (Taiwan) BRICS 5 Fund

5. JPMorgan (Taiwan) China A Share Fund

The management fees for the five funds range from 1.25% to 1.80%, matching the institutional share classes.

For example, the management fee for the digital share class of JPMorgan Asia Fund is 0.75%, which is 1% lower than the retail share classes. The amount of investment can go up to TWD 300,000 for each investor, and the subscription threshold is TWD 3,000.

“I believe our largest client base is investors who understand the importance of planning for retirement and long-term investments. We are launching the digital share class specifically to encourage long-term investment,” Tong explains.

JPMorgan's direct distribution platform offers a time-weighted subscription function, which allows investors to invest a certain amount of money on a regular basis to subscribe to funds. The long-term averaging of fund prices will result in a balanced investment.

"The market volatility cannot be avoided. But, as long-term investors look back, they will find that we have all experienced different challenges and ups and downs, and the market will recover, which is why the market calls this rotation a cycle,” Tong concludes. 

In the event of any conflict between the English and Chinese versions, the Chinese version shall prevail.