The awareness of Asian brands elsewhere in the world, and even within Asia, is low. The participants of our roundtable in Hong Kong discuss how they build and protect their brands in a region where, as one of them puts it, any two countries have as much in common as the Czech Republic has with Mexico. Chaired by Stefanie Eschenbacher.

There is a new generation of activist investors emerging. Kenneth J. Heinz of Hedge Fund Research says they are watching Japan and are eager become involved as advocates of shareholders and market efficiency alike.

The growth of fund investing will be boosted further by recent regional moves toward cross-border fund agreements. Qiumei Yang of ICI Global says this is a promising development that could pull together the region’s disparate markets.

Global custodians and other international players are being inundated with enquiries from clients that see the mutual fund recognition scheme between Hong Kong and China as the next big opportunity. Nicholas Pratt explores at the issues that still remain unresolved.

Conventional, Islamic and investors who apply environmental, social and governance factors should focus on what unites them. Murat Ünal of [email protected] explains how a more sustainable finance system can be built.