The Malaysian government has played a crucial role in helping to develop Islamic finance in the country, and similar changes to regulations are essential throughout Asia if the industry is to flourish, writes Rekha Menon

Asia is a huge market for Islamic finance and if Sharia investments continue to outperform conventional ones then their use may become increasingly widespread among non-Muslims, writes Peter Guest

Hedge funds are struggling to attract investors and Asia-based funds are suffering more than most. Managers hope that avoiding riskier strategies and a reduction in fees can draw in an increasingly sophisticated client base, writes Henry Smith

Lim Meng Tat, head of redistribution Asia at Russell Investments, discusses the benefits of investing in manager

of manager funds and the challenges of promoting this approach to Asian investors

Most investors agree on what constitutes a developed market but the picture can become more hazy when it comes to emerging and frontier markets. Frontier markets carry higher levels of risk, but can also offer very high returns.

A key tool for investors to use as they approach the Frontier markets is a transparent and codified system for

country classification

As the second generation of Asian high net worth individuals takes the reins of the family money, focus shifts from creating to preserving wealth – and therefore diversification. But there are still many who prefer to play the markets themselves, writes Martin Steward

The structured products market in Asia has been one that lurches from one extreme to the other. But as investors’ education improves the hope is that the misconceptions that have built up can be overcome, reports Peter Guest