In a vote among delegates at International Adviser’s International Fund Links Forum last week, 60.8% expressed hope for the international space’s future opportunities, while 23.5% said they were unsure and just 15.7% displayed pessimism.
However, only 19% of the delegates at the event said they were allocating “substantial resources” to international pension products, while 40% said they were not allocating “anything significant”.
When asked which regions they were currently allocating their resources to, nearly 35% of the fund management figures present said they were currently investing heavily into Emerging Asia.
However, 69% of delegates said they were not investing “anything significant” into emerging Europe, while 66% said they were not currently allocating any resources to sub-Saharan Africa.
The votes came just before Tom Dunbar, principal at NMG Consulting, said the offshore life industry is “well placed for the future” in his keynote speech at the event.
However, he added that the industry must “work hard” to adapt to ongoing regulatory changes and geographical shifts.
He said an unpredicted and ongoing decline in the North Asian market, and a temporary drop in UK and European sales, had temporarily offset “strong” growth in other areas of the industry.
“If you don’t have a solution for the future, it is going to be an issue for growth,” he added.
