The Case for Regional Equity Specialist Mandates
The field of international investment has long been dominated by broadly diversified mandates: EAFE, ACWI ex-U.S., global equity and global emerging markets equity. Regional specialist mandates (Japanese equity, European equity, Pacific-Basin equity, etc.) have grown very slowly, and have even seen assets under management decline for most of the past five years. The case can be made for a re-examination of these mandates, especially in the Japan only mandate in light of the recent performance of active managers in this area.