In an investment environment shaped by repeated market shocks, the most telling indicator of client behaviour is not what investors choose to buy but what they choose to avoid. When uncertainty pushes large portions of a portfolio into cash, the value of professional management begins to include something beyond return generation: helping clients remain invested through periods of fear and indecision. For firms building a discretionary proposition, the challenge is not only to demonstrate returns but to prove that the discipline of staying invested can itself be a source of value.
At the recent Hubbis Investment Forum – Hong Kong 2026, the third panel discussion of the day explored whether Asia’s accelerating growth in discretionary mandates is a permanent shift or a temporary reaction to volatile markets. Janice Wong, Head of Investment Solutions at Annum Capital, a multifamily office offering both discretionary and advisory services, brought a practitioner’s perspective on what is driving clients towards delegation and where the next phase of growth may come from.
Key Takeaways
Recent discretionary growth reflects a mix of structural and cyclical forces, with Wong observing that repeated market shocks have exposed the limits of self-directed investing for many Asian clients.
Risk paralysis is a powerful catalyst for delegation, with some clients in Wong’s experience holding between fifty and eighty percent of their portfolios in cash at the peak of market uncertainty.
AI is enhancing investment processes but cannot replace the human dimension of wealth management, particularly the ability to support clients through periods of fear and indecision.
The next generation is receptive to discretionary but demands differentiated value, and in Wong’s experience responds more positively to mandates offering access to exclusive deal flow than to standardised portfolio models.
Relationship managers should view discretionary not as a threat to their relevance but as an operating framework that frees them to focus on client acquisition and deeper engagement.
The Behavioural Case for Delegation
Wong opened her contribution by addressing the question of whether discretionary growth in Asia is structural or cyclical, and offered what she described as a mixed assessment. The cyclical element is real. Asian clients have been hit by a succession of market shocks in recent years, from the collapse of China’s property market to the disruption caused by trade tensions between the United States and China. Those experiences, Wong suggested, have shaken the confidence of clients who had previously been comfortable managing their own investments.
The consequences of that loss of confidence, as Wong described them, are tangible. At the peak of uncertainty, some clients were holding between fifty and eighty percent of their portfolios in cash. “We know that this is not strategic asset allocation,” Wong said. “This is just purely risk paralysis.”
Wong acknowledged that when markets stabilise, some of those clients may revert to a more hands-on approach. But she argued that the core value of discretionary extends beyond market-dependent performance. It lies in giving clients the ability to remain invested with confidence, supported by consistent risk management and a structured approach to portfolio construction. Wong suggested that a professionally managed portfolio combining consistent risk management with selected thematic exposure can give clients less reason to feel they need to trade individual stocks constantly themselves.
“Sooner or later, they will know that they do need to do that to get that return, and I think that realisation is structural,” Wong said.
AI as Enabler, Not Replacement
On the role of artificial intelligence, Wong was pragmatic. She acknowledged that AI is growing rapidly in capability and is already contributing to the efficiency of investment processes at Annum Capital. The firm uses AI tools to digest research, extract key insights, and support the construction of portfolio models. That, she said, has enhanced the team’s conviction and lowered operational costs.
But Wong drew a clear line between process efficiency and the core of what wealth management clients need. The most important dimension of the service, in her view, is not analytical but relational. What AI cannot replicate is the ability to support clients through periods of distress, to be present when they are fearful, and to provide the reassurance that keeps them committed to a long-term plan.
Rather than viewing AI as a competitive threat to discretionary, Wong framed it as a tool that creates capacity. The time saved through automated research and analysis, she argued, should be redeployed towards deeper client engagement. “What AI can save up our time is for us to deploy more time to serve our clients, to handhold with them when they are having a panic,” Wong said. The human element, in her assessment, is not diminished by AI but made more important as the technology absorbs the routine.
What the Next Generation Actually Wants
Wong’s most distinctive contribution came in her assessment of how the next generation of wealth holders relates to discretionary. Her view was nuanced. Younger clients, she observed, tend to arrive with a solid grounding in financial concepts. They understand economics, they are aware of AI’s capabilities, and they are likely to scrutinise closely the yield and performance of a standardised 60/40 core-satellite mandate.
That scrutiny, Wong suggested, means that standardised discretionary offerings may struggle to win the conviction of inheritors and younger wealth creators. Where the next generation does engage with discretionary, in her experience, is when the mandate offers something they cannot access independently.
Wong described a category of discretionary mandate within Annum Capital’s platform that focuses on private deals and single transactions. These mandates are structured to deliver net alpha through opportunities that are not available on bank platforms or through conventional market channels. Clients who engage with this type of mandate, she said, are not only more receptive but are also willing to accept performance-based fee structures, because the value being delivered is genuinely proprietary.
“That kind of DPM that we generate the net alpha for this type of clients, which they cannot find elsewhere,” Wong said. For Wong, differentiated investment access may therefore be an important way to make discretionary more compelling to a younger generation that is less easily persuaded by a standardised portfolio proposition.
Reframing the RM Conversation
Wong’s closing remarks addressed a challenge she sees within the industry itself. In her view, one of the obstacles to scaling discretionary in Asia is the perception among relationship managers that delegation diminishes their role in the client relationship. If the investment team is making the decisions, the concern runs, the relationship manager becomes less central and less valued.
Wong argued that this framing is counterproductive. Rather than treating discretionary as a competitor for relevance, relationship managers should understand it as an operating framework that handles the ongoing management of client portfolios, freeing the adviser to focus on what drives business growth: acquiring new clients and deepening existing relationships.
“Not to treat DPM as a competition of losing the own value in front of the clients, but treat DPM as the operating backdrop of ourselves to let us to have more free time to go out and hunt for more clients,” Wong said.
The message was practical rather than philosophical. Discretionary, in Wong’s framing, is not a product that replaces the relationship manager but a structure that supports them. For Wong, making the current DPM momentum more structural will require education on both sides of the relationship: clients need to understand the value of delegation, while relationship managers need to see DPM not as competition for their role but as an operating platform that can give them more time to serve and win clients.