How to win the 2013 Service Provider Awards
AsianInvestor magazine will conduct its annual Service Provider Awards selection process in September and October. The results will be announced online during the week of October 21 and the awards dinner will be held on Thursday, November 21 in Hong Kong.
Here we outline the process for our four awards brackets: Asset Services, Prime Broking, Audit/Legal/Indexing, and Trading & Execution. We also include the full list of award categories.
ASSET SERVICES
To win an AsianInvestor award for asset services involves three steps:
1. Specific to asset services is indication of interest (IOI). Tell us which categories your organisation would like to compete in (see below). With a total of 16 categories plus two marquee awards, we will limit each organisation to five IOIs, so think about where your true strengths lie. Our aim is to give awards that are comprehensive, authoritative and valued; it’s not ‘prizes for all’. IOIs must be received by noon on Friday, August 23. Please contact us to ensure your IOIs have been received. Note that you can also pitch for the two marquee awards regardless of the quota. Please make all submissions to [email protected].
2. Written pitch. Firms will be asked to submit a written pitch if they have submitted an indication of interest. This material should be considered public. It lays out the case for why your organisation deserves the award. All submissions must be in Word document format.
No supplemental material will be accepted except for client testimonials from buy-side clients based in Asia-Pacific. These will be treated with strict confidence and will be considered off the record, but we do need to know the name of the client. We will also accept referrals instead of something in writing.
Submissions (not including testimonials) are limited to 1,000 words. If it exceeds 1,000 words, we will delete anything following the thousandth word. You should not feel the need to fill it out to the maximum word count; clarity of argument is more important than length.
However, you do need to submit a separate pitch for each award you bid for.
We welcome information, where appropriate, regarding year-on-year growth in your business’ revenue and assets under custody (or relevant service activity) in terms of clientele, client segments and addressable assets; your win rate; key new mandates; client retention ratio; product innovation; infrastructure improvements; credit ratings and your capital structure; market leadership & advocacy; investment into your business. We will consider activities from Q4 2012, to the present.
Mere size isn’t enough: we want to know what you have done for your clients and for the market in 2012-13 that makes this your standout year.
Our marquee award for a firm is Asset Servicer of the Year, which requires a pitch. We will also choose Buy-side COO of the Year, although this does not require a pitch (you can include a note with relevant details about the person’s leadership). You do not need to include these in your list of five categories. They are additional awards open to anyone.
Pitches must be submitted to us by noon on Wednesday, September 11. We will not be accepting late entries. Feel free to contact us to ensure we have received your submission.
3. Interviews. These will take place in Hong Kong over the course of the following dates: October 2-4, and October 7-11. Due to our tight schedule, we are not able to conduct interviews in person in Singapore.
Interviewing journalists: Georgina Lee, Leigh Powell
Interviews can be set up in advance, but we must receive your written pitch on time for the interview to go ahead. Interviews are off the record and are meant to put your formal pitch into context.
We are not holding interviews for Buy-side COO of the Year. We will rely on our judgment in the course of other interviews to decide this.
Note that all awards cover Asia-Pacific markets unless otherwise noted.
1. Best global custodian for asset owners (asset servicing, clearing, settlement, cash management, data provision including performance and compliance reporting)
2. Best global custodian for mutual funds (ibid, including Asia-based funds and global funds tapping Asian capital markets)
3. Best fund administrator (fund accounting, transfer agency) – long-only
4. Best fund administrator – alternative investments
5. Best securities lending
6. Best collateral management
7. Best outsourcing services (middle office, risk management, trade processing)
8. Best direct custody (or sub-custody or local custody; local market access and asset servicing) – Australia/New Zealand
9. Best direct custody – China
10. Best direct custody – India
11. Best direct custody – Japan
12. Best direct custody – South Korea
13. Best direct custody – Southeast Asia
14. Best direct custody – Taiwan
15. Best Asian bank for cross-border custody
16. Marquee award: Asset Service Provider of the Year (bank)
Note: AsianInvestor does not cover corporate finance-related business, because our mission is to inform asset owners and investment managers. Therefore we do not have awards for depository receipts, corporate trust or broker clearing.
PRIME BROKING
To win an AsianInvestor award for prime broking involves two steps:
1. Send us a written pitch by noon on Friday, September 6 for each award (see below) you wish to compete for. This material should be considered public. It lays out the case for why your organisation deserves the award. All submissions must be in Word document format.
No supplemental material will be accepted except for client testimonials from alternative-investment clients based in Asia Pacific. These will be treated with strict confidence and will be considered off the record, but we do need to know the name of the client. We will also accept referrals instead of something in writing.
Submissions (not including testimonials) are limited to 1,000 words. If it exceeds 1,000 words, we will delete anything following the thousandth word. You should not feel the need to fill it out to the maximum word count; clarity of argument is more important than length.
However, you do need to submit a separate pitch for each award you bid for.
We welcome information, where appropriate, regarding year-on-year growth in your business in terms of clientele, client segments and addressable assets; your win rate; key new mandates; client retention ratio; product innovation; infrastructure improvements; credit ratings and your capital structure; market leadership and advocacy; investment into your business. We will consider activities from Q4 2012 to the present.
For individual awards, we don’t need as big a pitch; a note on their accomplishments and demonstrated leadership will do.
2. Interviews. These will take place in Hong Kong during the week of September 16-20.
Interviewing journalist: Yvonne Chan
These can be set up in advance but we must receive your written pitch on time for the interview to go ahead. Interviews are off the record and are meant to put your formal pitch in context.
We are not holding interviews for the individual awards. We will rely on other pitch meetings to make a judgment.
Note that all awards cover Asia-Pacific markets unless otherwise noted.
1. Best in securities finance
2. Best in client service
3. Best in capital introductions
4. Best capital introductions specialist (individual)
5. Best consultant (individual)
6. Best salesperson (individual)
7. Marquee award: Prime Broker of the Year
AUDIT/LEGAL/INDEXING
To win an AsianInvestor award for these categories involves two steps:
1. Send us a written pitch by noon on Friday, September 13 for each award (see below) you wish to compete for. We will not accept late submissions. This material should be considered public. It lays out the case for why your organisation deserves the award. All submissions must be in Word document format.
No supplemental material will be accepted except for client testimonials from alternative-investment clients based in Asia-Pacific. These will be treated with strict confidence and will be considered off the record, but we do need to know the name of the client. We will also accept referrals instead of something in writing.
Submissions (not including testimonials) are limited to 1,000 words. If it exceeds 1,000 words, we will delete anything following the thousandth word. You should not feel the need to fill it out to the maximum word count; clarity of argument is more important than length.
However, you do need to submit a separate pitch for each award you bid for.
These three categories are quite distinct.
For accountancies, we want to hear about your efforts in taxation, advice, industry leadership and research. For law firms, we welcome information about innovative work on products, lobbying, fund formation and advice. For indexing vendors, we want to know about client wins and retention, year-on-year changes to assets against your benchmarks, innovative product, overcoming regulatory hurdles, and changes to market classifications.
2. Interviews. These will take place in Hong Kong during the week of October 7-11, exact dates to be determined.
Interviewing journalist: Joe Marsh
These can be set up in advance but we must receive your written pitch on time for the interview to go ahead. Interviews are off the record and are meant to put your formal pitch in context.
Note that all awards cover Asia-Pacific markets unless otherwise noted.
1. Best law firm, Asia ex-Japan
2. Best law firm, alternatives
3. Best law firm, Japan
4. Best offshore law firm
5. Best compliance services provider
6. Best auditor, funds advice
7. Best auditor, tax advice
8. Best benchmark index provider
9. Best tradable index provider
10. Best index provider, local markets
11. Legal Services Provider of the Year
TRADING & EXECUTION
AsianInvestor is conducting a survey of buy-side equity traders covering Asia-Pacific markets. The results of this exercise will be published in the October magazine. We will have the results internally by the end of September, and we will use these to generate a shortlist of candidates for these awards.
Shortlisted firms will be asked then to provide us with a written pitch that contains information we can consider public. It will be followed by interviews in Hong Kong during the week of October 14-18. Interviews are off the record and meant to put your formal pitch into context.
Interviewing journalists: Georgina Lee, Leigh Powell
For the time being we welcome your support of our survey but do not require any input with regard to the awards. If you have not been contacted by AsianInvestor regarding the survey, but would like more information, please let us know.
The awards do not correspond exactly to the survey questionnaire. The categories will be:
1. Best broker for long-only
2. Best broker for hedge funds
3. Best broker for sales trading
4. Best broker for program trading
5. Best broker for electronic trading
6. Best agency-only broker
7. Best broker for Asia-Pacific coverage
8. New entrant with best business model
9. Best alternative trading venue
10. Best execution-management system
11. Buy-side trader of the year
12. Marquee award: Broker of the Year