'We don't necessarily want to be biggest but, rather, the best within the areas we excel. We have established our name in certain investment areas. People tend to think of us, for example, as strong in Hong Kong and China, and emerging market equities,' Mr Ng said

This is reflected in the four sector trophies the firm collected this year. In addition to the three-year group award, the firm won the three and five-year awards in the greater China equity category for its Baring Hong Kong China Fund; the five-year award in the smaller European companies category for its Baring Europe Select Fund; and the three-year award in the European emerging markets category for its Baring Eastern Europe Fund.

Mr Ng said the very fact that Baring Asset Management was neither a small boutique fund house nor a bulge bracket asset management company - it had US$42.3billion of assets under management as at the end of January - conferred certain advantages.

'We are large enough to enjoy global coverage and attract talent. But compared with the larger fund houses, we are more nimble. We have shorter lines of communication, so day-to-day decisions affecting the firm strategically can be made faster.

'On the investment management side, the size of operations encourages a culture of partnership. Our fund managers work in a collegiate environment, emphasising teamwork and ideas generation. The organisational structure is fairly flat, which leads to a high degree of communication between fund managers in Hong Kong, London and Tokyo,' Mr Ng said.

While dealings between colleagues in larger firms may become anonymous and impersonal, the firm's size allowed it to build a good team spirit and friendly working atmosphere.

'We are a friendly company. We take pride in fostering strong relationships between colleagues, and also with our long-term institutional clients, and the banks, insurance companies and independent financial advisers who distribute our products. The human aspect of the business is very important,' Mr Ng said.

Having approximately doubled its assets under management to about US$7billion in Asia in the past two years under Mr Ng's stewardship, Baring Asset Management has benefited strongly from the uptrend in Asian capital markets. He saw further growth ahead as the company looked to develop its business in Taiwan and South Korea.

The Taiwan market has been an important element of the company's plans in Asia over the past 10 to 15 years, and there are plans to continue making inroads into the institution arena through fund-of-funds products investing in offshore funds offered by local distributors, and variable annuity products offered by local insurance companies.

'We've also made some good headway in Korea, which is a market that is significantly larger than Hong Kong and Taiwan. Again the fund-of-funds arena will continue to be an important part of our strategy in this market.'

In terms of product range expansion, Mr Ng said the firm talked regularly with institutional clients, banks and other distributors to help it keep a bead on market trends and the evolving requirements of investors. Based on this market intelligence, the firm was always looking for opportunities to bring innovative products to the market.

An example of this, he said, was the launch of a directional bond fund about 18 months ago, which could take 'negative duration' positions to generate positive returns during market downtrends.

A key element in its product strategy has been an arrangement to distribute the funds of its sister company, OppenheimerFunds, under the Baring umbrella, which went into affect at the start of this year. Both fund houses belong to the MassMutual Financial Group family of companies.

The move would allow the OppenheimerFunds products to leverage Baring Asset Management's established distribution network among banks, insurance companies and financial advisers in Hong Kong and the rest of Asia, but was also a logical merger of two complementary ranges of investment products.

'OppenheimerFunds is traditionally very strong in United States equity funds and has some excellent global equities-type funds. It also launched an innovative product - the Real Asset Futures Fund - which is a play on the Goldman Sachs Commodities Index. Baring Asset Management's strengths, on the other hand, are in Hong Kong and China, Europe and some emerging market equities.'

The 12 authorised funds managed by OppenheimerFunds have been re-badged as Baring products to present retail clients with a seamless range of more than 40 funds.