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- Strategic enhancements to team and capabilities, deepening local office integration with new Emerging Markets Investment Network
- New Hard Currency Portfolio Manager and Sovereign Research Analyst join team
- EM outlook: resilient fundamentals, investment grade valuations excessively stretched and dollar weakness expected to persist
BNP Paribas Asset Management (‘BNPP AM’) today reaffirms its long-standing commitment to Emerging Market capabilities. The Emerging Markets Fixed Income (EMFI) team has over the last year optimised its structure, where we have added resources to our portfolio management and research capabilities. This is reflected by the appointment of Alan Wilson as Hard Currency Portfolio Manager as well as Abhishek Gon as Sovereign Research Analyst.
These strategic enhancements come on the back of a record year in 2024, with BNPP AM emerging markets’ assets of AuM of €105 billion reached1, reflecting robust client demand and performance. BNPPAM is well-positioned to capture long-term growth opportunities in the emerging markets and continue delivering for clients globally.
Olivier De Larouziere, CIO Global Fixed Income, BNP Paribas Asset Management, on the new Emerging Markets capabilities:
“I am hugely excited as we enter this new phase. Through these efforts we have cultivated a deeply collaborative culture across our network of investment teams in key emerging markets including Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Poland, Turkey, and Chile. This strategic footprint of both wholly-owned entities and joint ventures creates a unique, best-in-class ecosystem where local expertise seamlessly integrates with our global perspective.
Our on-the-ground teams maintain close proximity to domestic issuers, generating valuable insights about local macroeconomic trends and company-specific opportunities that are shared across our global platform. This knowledge exchange, supported by shared ESG best practices, powers superior investment idea generation.
This combination of local market intelligence, ESG integration, collaborative knowledge sharing, and robust risk management creates a differentiated approach to emerging markets investing that consistently delivers value to our clients."
Alaa Busheri, Head of Emerging Market Debt, BNP Paribas Asset Management on the EM outlook:
“Despite the notable headwinds brought about by President Trump’s trade policies, we continue to see emerging market economies benefitting from resilient fundamentals and a generally stronger pace of growth relative to developed market peers. This, combined with the expected continuation of the rate cutting cycle in the US, albeit at a slower pace, and most other EM countries, are likely to be supportive for the asset class looking forward in 2025. We continue to hold that view that EM fixed income continues to offer compelling select opportunities, though it requires careful navigation of the markets amid heightened volatility.
For hard currency EM bonds, we see US duration risk as broadly balanced- with the Fed focused on the inflation data and President Trump’s policy agenda. While the central bank may not be inclined to further rate cuts prematurely, signs of a weakening economy could change the Fed’s mind.
In our hard currency portfolios, we have moved close to a neutral position on duration. We maintain our view that EM spreads are offering better value vs. DM peers but acknowledge that they already underwent significant compression since 2H 2023. Therefore, we remain more positive on the idiosyncratic stories, along with select frontier markets, which we believe still offer attractive opportunities.
We continue to view investment grade valuations as excessively stretched and therefore remain very selective here.
On local currency bonds, we continue to be of the view that there are select opportunities over the short and medium term. Within EM local rates, several EM central banks have already pivoted to a more accommodative monetary stance. Some local rates (Latin America and frontier markets) still look appealing from a valuations perspective.
On EM currencies, improvements in valuations and technicals are still reasons to remain optimistic. From a valuation’s perspective, some EM currencies still look attractive, but we are approaching EMFX from a more selective angle, with a focus on near term opportunities. We expect near-term USD weakness to persist, which would be supportive of EMFX.”
New Joiner additional information
Alan Wilson, Portfolio Manager, Emerging Market Fixed Income
Alan Wilson is a Hard Currency Portfolio Manager for the Emerging Markets Fixed Income team at BNP Asset Management. In this role, Alan is responsible for the management of the flagship and segregated hard currency portfolios, where his duties include portfolio construction, risk management, and the identification of alpha opportunities within the asset class.
Alan joined BNP Asset Management in January 2025 and is based in London. Prior to joining the team, Alan was a Portfolio Manager at Eurizon Asset Management, responsible for the management of hard currency mandates. Before joining Eurizon, Alan started his career at Aberdeen Asset Management as a graduate trainee, before undertaking portfolio management positions at State Street Global Advisors and Schroders.
Alan has 16 years of industry experience. He holds a M.Sc. in Economics and Finance from the University of Glasgow and a bachelor’s degree in Economics from the University of Strathclyde.
Abhishek Gon, Sovereign and Rates Analyst, Emerging Market Fixed Income
Abhishek is the Sovereign and Rates Analyst for the Emerging markets Fixed Income team at BNP Paribas Asset management. In this position, Abhishek is responsible for performing fundamental sovereign credit assessment for Emerging and Frontier markets within the EMD investment universe and providing fundamentally driven sovereign fixed income recommendations to portfolio managers.
Abhishek joined our firm in September 2024 and is based in London. Prior to joining the team, Abhishek was a senior associate in the Macro Strategies team at Canada Pension Plan Investments in London, for over five years. He was responsible for covering emerging market fixed income mandates and assisting PMs with fundamental research and trade recommendations. Prior to this, he developed a deep knowledge of emerging and frontier markets from his five years tenure at Amundi Asset management, London as an emerging markets economist and Fixed income strategist.
Abhishek has 12 years of emerging markets experience. He holds a Ph.D. in Economics and master’s in international economics from University of Rome, Italy. He completed a bachelor’s degree in economics from Delhi University, India. During his time in Italy, he was involved in different economic and trade related projects with Italian government organizations and OECD, Paris.
Footnotes
- The AuM of EUR 105 bn corresponds to emerging market assets managed by BNPP AM central teams, fully owned entities and joint ventures located in the Emerging markets.
