The balance of power

Asia’s prime brokerage business has so far been dominated by two investment banking giants, but a surge in hedge fund activity in the region has led to a slew of banks following in their wake. Saima Farooqi reports.

Asia’s prime brokerage business is growing quickly. For years, two US investment banks – Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley – have dominated prime brokerage in Asia. But with new Asian funds popping up all the time, and the number of global funds with Asian strategies growing steadily, the prospects for prime brokers in Asia are looking more and more enticing. As such, a stream of banks have set up prime brokerage services over the past few months to try to attract some of the new