House Awards

Competition Details and Rules 2023

Benchmark has upped its notch on its 20th anniversary and introduced a more up-to-date judging methodology based on merits by the sustainable financial and ESG performance.  All participants are scored based on their selections of the options preset for each question in the Questionnaire. Independent reports with data provided by Morningstar for investment performance and BlueOnion for sustainability performance will be used for scoring.

The House Awards can be entered by self-nomination.  The objective of this award is to recognize active and passive managers of various asset classes and strategies for delivering sustained, consistent outperformance on a risk-adjusted basis while maintaining excellence in Benchmark's pillars. Benchmark and the buy-side community believe that investment strategies are best evaluated holistically rather than over-emphasizing past returns and risk metrics. In that light, our assessment is based on multiple facets of portfolio and risk management, and corporate strength. We see these facets as interlocking pieces forming a whole picture. Benchmark's five pillars are Investment Approach, Performance & Risk, Portfolio Management, Stewardship, and Corporate Quality.

Winning Titles
The strategy with the highest final score in its peer group wins the Best-in-Class award. Up to two Outstanding Achiever awards will be given to Strategies within a 5% margin below the Best-in-Class

Co-organized with:

Eligibility:

Although this program assesses investment strategies rather than funds, we ask for factsheets and other information related to the oldest share class of a flagship fund so that all candidates can be measured by the same metrics. The strategy must:

>  have a minimum 3 years track record

>  have an ISIN code

>  must provide a prospectus or fact sheet

You can submit more than one fund to each category by entering the fund into a separate entry. The strategies presented do not have to be authorized funds in the jurisdiction of competition. It can be a UCITS, SICAV, etc..…

3 Steps to the Title:

Step 1: – Decide which investment strategies you would like to put forward. 

Step 2: – Fill out the Multiple Choice Questionnaire for each entered category. Due to increasing entries yearly, we can no longer offer each fund an opportunity to the Gatekeeper Forum. To present the best of the best in front of the judges, candidates who have met the qualifying threshold will be shortlisted to enter the Gatekeeper Forum. These shortlisted candidates are determined by the quality of the answers provided in the questionnaire.

Step 3: – Attend The Gatekeeper Forum, where judges will rate their interviews with the PM/CIO based on the criteria specified for each type of award. This is a subjective process, and the judges will be provided with the submissions, the independent financial performance reporting provided by Morningstar, and the sustainability performance by BlueOnion. The forum is highly curated, and only the PM, CIO, or Product Specialists are invited to meet the Senior Gatekeepers in person. During the 30-minute session, 3-5 jurors will ask in-depth questions along the five critical pillars to further understand team practices.  Jurors signed up/assigned to a particular peer group will score based on their experience with the fund house and team and the evidence presented. 

Other Rules:

Submitting Materials for Multiple Regions – If you are entering the same category for more than one region, you may use the same information, documents, and flagship fund across all the areas. For example, you've entered your global fixed-income strategy for Hong Kong, Singapore, and Taiwan. You may use the same information for all three regions.  You would still need to complete the submission for each region separately.  Submit all the answers and documents for the first region, then simply input the related submission ID for the other regions.

Submitting Materials for Multiple Strategies – Separate groups of jurors will evaluate different product types, so please make sure there is one submission per strategy. Please submit separate entries for each strategy, except Pillar 5-Corporate Strength (only need to submit this once for all entries). DO NOT send one request to represent different strategies.

Merging Categories – To ensure the quality of the awards, categories with less than three funds participating may be incorporated into a larger category of the same kind without prior notice.

  1. Asia Equity
  2. Asia Pacific ex-Japan Equity
  3. Asia Income Equity
  4. Asia Emerging Markets Equity
  5. Asia Small & Mid-Cap Equity
  6. China Equity
  7. China Income Equity
  8. China Small & Mid-Cap Equity
  9. Europe Equity
  10. Global Equity
  11. Global Income Equity
  12. Global Small & Mid Cap Equity
  13. Global Emerging Markets Equity
  14. Greater China Equity
  15. Hong Kong Equity (for Hong Kong only)
  16. India Equity
  17. Japan Equity
  18. Singapore Equity (for Singapore only)
  19. Taiwan Large-Cap Equity (for Taiwan only)
  20. Taiwan Small & Mid-Cap Equity (for Taiwan only)
  21. Thailand Equity
  22. US Equity
  23. US Income Equity
  24. US Small & Mid-Cap Equity
  25. UK Equity

Please note that the final naming of the award category may differ from the list displayed here.

  1. Consumer Goods & Services Sector Equity
  2. Energy Sector Equity
  3. Extractives & Minerals Processing Sector Equity
  4. Financials Sector Equity
  5. Food & Beverage Sector Equity
  6. Healthcare Sector Equity
  7. Infrastructure Sector Equity
  8. Renewable Resources & Alternative Energy Sector Equity
  9. Resource Transformation Sector Equity
  10. Technology & Communications Sector Equity
  11. Transportation Sector Equity

Please note that the final naming of the award category may differ from the list displayed here.

  1. Asia Fixed Income
  2. China Fixed Income
  3. Emerging Markets Fixed Income
  4. Europe Fixed Income
  5. Global Fixed Income
  6. High Yield Fixed Income
  7. Hong Kong Fixed Income
  8. Singapore Fixed Income
  9. Taiwan Fixed Income
  10. US Fixed Income
  11. RMB Fixed Income
  1. Aggressive Mixed Asset
  2. Asia Allocation Mixed Asset
  3. Balanced Mixed Asset
  4. Conservative Mixed Asset
  5. Flexible Mixed Asset
  1. Absolute Return
  2. Credit Focus
  3. Global Macro
  4. Long/Short Equity
  5. Market Neutral
  6. Multi Strategies

Eligibility:

Although this program assesses investment strategies rather than funds, we ask for factsheets and other information related to the oldest share class of a fund so that all candidates can be measured by the same metrics. The Index fund or ETF must:

>  have a minimum 1-year track record

>  have an ISIN code

>  must provide a prospectus or fact sheet

You can submit more than one index fund or ETF to each category by entering the fund into a separate entry.

Judging:

All participants are scored based on their selections of the options preset for each question in the Questionnaire. The scores were also pre-defined for each option in each question. Independent reports with data provided by Morningstar for investment performance and BlueOnion for sustainability performance will be used in the algorithmic assessment for scoring.

The Conventional Series:

  1. Best Active ETF Issuer
  2. Best Smart Beta Equity ETF Issuer
  3. Best Smart Beta Fixed Income ETF Issuer
  4. Best Global Equity ETF Issuer
  5. Best China Equity ETF Issuer
  6. Best US Equity ETF Issuer
  7. Best Asia Equity ETF Issuer
  8. Best Fixed Income ETF Issuer
  9. Best Emerging Markets ETF Issuer
  10. Best Leveraged & Inversed ETF Issuer
  11. Best Taiwan Large-Cap Equity ETF (for Taiwan only)
  12. Best Hong Kong Equity ETF Issuer (for Hong Kong only)
  13. Best Singapore Equity ETF Issuer (for Singapore only)

The New Age Series:

  1. Best Metaverse ETF Issuer
  2. Best Blockchain-linked ETF Issuer
  3. Best AI & Robotics focused ETF Issuer
  4. Best Quantum Computing ETF Issuer
  5. Best Islamic ETF Issuer
  6. Best Space ETF Issuer (aerospace and satellite)