A survey from finds that the vast majority (86 per cent) of Asia-Pacific investors think active management can help them achieve investment goals over the next 12 to 18 months. Schroders has issued its Global Investor Insights Survey 2026, which covered more than 1,000 institutional investors, wealth managers and intermediaries worldwide, including 245 from APAC.

Volatility is high, explaining why some investors seek professional help to navigate the turmoil and hopefully earn added returns. Over at , William Bratton, head of cash equity research for APAC, wrote in a note on 3 August that the level of volatility experienced in South Korea’s stock market, for instance, was “unprecedented”. 

When markets move up in a relatively sedate fashion, it is easy to make a case for capturing that rise, or market “Beta,” rather than shelling out added fees to managers in the hope of earning Alpha. It is an oft-stated point that beating a market is hard over a long period if one assumes markets are broadly efficient. (A great deal of debate hinges around that latter point.) The rally in equities after the 2008 financial crisis, buoyed by ultra-low interest rates, hit the appeal of active management and the higher fees typically associated with it. Cheaper exchange-traded funds (ETFs) boomed.

But markets can upend assumptions. 

The rise of private market investing, which tends to be more opaque and less liquid, has helped put active management back in the game. Volatility, some of which comes from geopolitics as well as technology, also fuels the hunt for Alpha. Another factor is that indices that passive funds track are not static entities and they are reconstituted. (See an analysis here.)

Schroders said APAC investors, when asked which characteristics matter most in an active asset manager, said they put the ability to capture outperformance at the top of the list (63 per cent). Nimbleness in navigating uncertainty (55 per cent) and responsiveness to geopolitical disruption (51 per cent) are also valued and both are associated with active management. 

“The message from APAC investors is clear: they want asset managers who can proactively move with the market, not just interpret it, as do their global counterparts,” Gopi Mirchandani, head of client group, Asia, Schroders, said in a note. 

Challenges such as shifting geopolitics, and the rise of private markets, mean that an annual discussion of asset allocation between clients and their wealth advisors is insufficient, Mirchandani said. 

“APAC investors are managing portfolios at a time when risks are compounding faster than the established playbook was designed to handle.

“Our survey found that 76 per cent of APAC investors rank conflict in the Middle East as a top geopolitical concern, ahead of the global average of 69 per cent. Uncertainty over US foreign policy (70 per cent) and energy security (62 per cent) follow close behind. Conducted following the outbreak of the Iran conflict in early 2026, the survey found that 87 per cent of APAC investors expect greater market volatility in the year ahead, and only 5 per cent plan to maintain their existing allocations and wait it out,” Mirchandani said. 

Another force at work is that a relatively small number of US technology names dominate global equity benchmarks. “Passive investors have rarely been so exposed to single-stock, single-sector and single-country risk. Just 4 per cent of APAC investors say they are unconcerned about concentration, and 37 per cent are rotating into active management specifically to address it,” Mirchandani said. 

South Korea rollercoaster
Talk of concentrations and tech links back to the volatility that BNP Paribas’ Bratton noticed in South Korea. (The French bank has commented on the South Korean situation before in recent weeks.)

Heavy retail investor involvement in South Korea’s stocks and equities’ exposure to the swings in sentiment about AI-linked companies explained much of the volatility, he said. 

“Across the last five trading sessions, the KOSPI has experienced seven discrete moves of more than 5 per cent, in either direction (including Wednesday’s 15.5 per cent decline followed by a 7.8 per cent gain, and Thursday’s 7.7 per cent gain followed by a 7.0 per cent fall).

“Over a longer horizon, the index has now moved by more than 5 per cent, in either direction, on 42 occasions over the last 10 years, of which 32 (76 per cent) have been in 2026. This means that the index has experienced an intraday move greater than 5 per cent, in either direction, on a quarter of 2026 trading days. And on a relative basis, the KOSPI now accounts for 84 per cent of 5 per cent-plus moves seen across the region’s indices year-to-date,” Bratton wrote. 

Bratton said his firm prefers, when thinking about Asia’s technology adventure, to be positive for the computer, networking and memory/stage subsectors because faster AI infrastructure deployments and added capacity have started an historic upcycle.

Value attractor
The sharp decline in South Korean stocks attracts . In a 31 July note, the firm said that despite near-term risks, such as a possible US interest rate rise and a failure of AI “hyperscaler” firms’ earnings to meet expectations, it sees the Asian country’s stock market as attractive. The MSCI South Korea blended forward price-to-earnings ratio trades at 4.3 times, the lowest in 20 years. (A “hyperscaler” is a large-scale cloud computing and infrastructure provider such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud.)

Singapore, meanwhile, is RBC Wealth Management’s favourite stock market in the ASEAN region of Southeast Asian countries. The Canadian firm, explaining its rationale, said Singapore is nearly doubling its fiscal support package to about S$2 billion ($1.56 billion) to help households and businesses cope with higher costs stemming from the protracted Middle East conflict and resulting supply chain disruptions. 

A new S$900 million tranche of government support includes cash subsidies along with cash grants and rental support for small and medium enterprises. 

Active is where to be
Schroders is convinced that active management is flourishing in Asia and will continue to do so. 

“More than a passing trend, this is reshaping what active management means in APAC,” Mirchandani said. “The asset managers that will earn the next decade of mandates in this region are unlikely to be those competing on philosophy alone. They will be the ones that deliver better judgment, that is, knowing when to move, where to look and how to adapt as markets evolve. 

“APAC investors have made their expectations clear. The active managers who thrive here will be the ones who were already moving,” Mirchandani added.