Hong Kong & Singapore 2025 | Benchmark.today

Congratulations to the 2025 Winners

Heartfelt congratulations to all our winners and the incredible teams driving these successes — your unwavering dedication to innovation, performance, and investor satisfaction continually raises the bar in Hong Kong and Singapore.

BENCHMARK Announces 2025 Provider of the Year Winners at the 22nd Fund of the Year Awards Ceremony

Grand awards highlight Mutual Funds, ETFs and MPF excellence, with MPF role‑based awards spotlighting Investment Manager, Sponsor and Trustee leadership

Hong Kong, 3 July 2026 — BENCHMARK today announced the 2025 Provider of the Year winners at the 22nd BENCHMARK Fund of the Year Awards Luncheon in Hong Kong, recognizing firms that deliver consistent excellence across performance, governance, stewardship, sustainability, and investor outcomes.

The awards are co‑organized with BlueOnion, which provides the data and analytics backbone for the Fund of the Year Awards and the Gatekeeper Forum, helping judges and gatekeepers evaluate strategies and providers through a combination of human expertise and AI‑driven insights.

This year’s three flagship Provider of the Year distinctions covered Mutual Funds, ETFs and MPF, reflecting BENCHMARK’s integrated view of public funds, listed vehicles and retirement solutions. Across all three, the frameworks apply weighted qualitative and quantitative scores, rewarding not only strong results, but also product design quality, manager selection, investor protection and operational robustness.

The Mutual Funds Provider of the Year – Franklin Templeton Investments (Asia) Limited was selected under a methodology that combines winning ratios across categories, quantitative strength, and house‑level disclosures, including sustainability achievements and firm‑wide governance. With onshore and offshore houses now assessed on equal footing, the Grand Award recognizes the firm that stands out across BENCHMARK’s five pillars: Investment Approach, Performance & Risk, Portfolio Management, Stewardship and Corporate Quality.

Mr. Eric Ng, Head of Retail Wealth, Hong Kong and China,

Franklin Templeton Investments (Asia) Limited

The MPF Provider of the Year – The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited was awarded to the provider that achieved the highest combined weighted scores across the three institutional roles of Investment Manager, Sponsor and Trustee. The MPF framework emphasizes sustainable long‑term retirement outcomes, financial resilience and ESG performance, and looks at qualitative investment capability, the Sponsor’s role in selecting and structuring investments, sustainability commitment when members often do not know what to ask, and member‑relevant, dollar‑weighted long‑term returns rather than simple calendar‑year performance.

Mr. Tak Fong Lo, Managing Director of HSBC Pension, and his team

Alongside the MPF Grand Award, BENCHMARK also highlighted three role‑based MPF distinctions:

MPF Trustee of the Year – Manulife Provident Funds Trust Company, honoring Trustees regulated by the MPFA that demonstrate excellence in discharging their fiduciary duties, and leadership across compliance, risk management, corporate governance, stewardship, employer support, member servicing and human capital development.

Mr. Zachariah Ezekiel, Manulife Provident Funds Trust Company and his team.jpg

Mr. Zachariah Ezekiel, Chief Executive Officer of Manulife Provident Funds Trust Company

MPF Investment Manager of the Year – The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited, focusing on the investment capability of the team mandated to manage MPF constituent funds, and how they treat scheme members as real investors by applying disciplined risk management and targeting optimal long‑term, dollar‑weighted returns.

Mr. Tak Fong Lo, Managing Director of HSBC Pension, and his team

MPF Sponsor of the Year – Sun Life Hong Kong Limited, recognizing Sponsors that excel in product design, fund manager selection, cost structuring and member engagement, with particular emphasis on product due diligence, ESG integration, impact initiatives and independence in onboarding third‑party funds outside their own house.

Mr. Roger Lau, Chief Executive Officer, Sun Life Asset Management

The ETF Provider of the Year – Mirae Asset Global Investments (HK) Limited was determined using a framework that applies weighted qualitative and quantitative scores. Issuers were assessed on AUM growth, liquidity, tracking quality and performance relative to benchmarks and peers, and these results were combined with structured qualitative scoring from the judging panel on product design, investor protection, client support and operational robustness. ETF Provider of the Year is therefore awarded to the house that achieves the strongest overall weighted score across this full framework – not only in market and performance metrics, but also in how well its ETFs are designed, supported and governed for investors.

Mr. David Tsoi, Head of Product Development and Innovation

Jurors: Mr. Nicholas Leung (Left), Ms. Belle Liang (Center), Ms. Connie Sin (Right), Ms. Elsa Pau

“I am deeply grateful to our 35 jurors for safeguarding the integrity of the process in what has been one of the most competitive years we have ever seen,” said Elsa Pau, Curator of the BENCHMARK Awards and CEO of BlueOnion. “This panel’s readiness to challenge assumptions, scrutinize disclosures in detail and debate difficult calls is what keeps the awards credible and forward‑looking. It matters not only to the houses who win, but also to the gatekeepers, employers and investors who use these results as a reference point for genuine excellence.”

The BENCHMARK Fund of the Year Awards have evolved over more than two decades into a platform that combines data, sustainability analysis, and judge‑led forums to evaluate strategies and providers holistically, rather than relying solely on backward‑looking performance. Full results, methodologies and event highlights are available at www.benchmark.today.

About BENCHMARK

BENCHMARK is an independent awards organizer for fund managers, wealth managers, pension providers and insurers, focused on recognizing firms that deliver genuine value to end investors. Its Fund of the Year Awards use buy‑side–driven, forward‑looking methodologies that combine quantitative analysis with structured qualitative review across five pillars: Investment Approach, Performance & Risk, Portfolio Management, Stewardship and Corporate Quality.

A defining feature of BENCHMARK’s process is the Gatekeeper Forum, which brings together private banks, institutions, foundations, and family offices with managers to “look under the hood” of strategies before decisions are made. This gatekeeper engagement, alongside robust analytics, helps safeguard the integrity and credibility of the awards.

About BlueOnion

BlueOnion is a sustainability‑driven analytics and due diligence platform that connects the buy side and sell side of public and private funds. It helps private banks, institutions and asset owners engage with fund managers through a shared data and insight layer, going beyond what is visible in fact sheets and pitch decks.

Combining human expertise and artificial intelligence, BlueOnion’s FundBase AI platform surfaces signals on sustainability, governance, risk, costs and member‑relevant outcomes, supporting both pre‑screening and deep ongoing due diligence. As co‑organizer and analytics partner to the BENCHMARK Awards, BlueOnion embeds this human‑plus‑AI approach into the awards methodology and the Gatekeeper Forum, strengthening the link between recognition and real‑world investment decisions.

Welcome to Benchmark
Fund of The Year Awards!

Congratulations to the winners of the Benchmark Fund of the Year Awards. It is an exceptional year to celebrate Benchmark Hong Kong 20th anniversary! This is also the year we co-organize the award with the most disruptive Sustainability and Qualitative analytic platform, BlueOnion, a sister company of organizer, WealthAsia Media. The committee is overwhelmed with this year's submissions across the region and sincere gratitude to the 40 jurors who have diligently screened through the hard work of the fund houses and have attended 35 Gatekeeper Forum sessions.

Meet our winners

We applaud our winners for their dedication to innovation, wholehearted embrace of decarbonization, and tireless efforts in advancing sustainability. They are trailblazers leading the charge towards a greener, more sustainable future for all.

See 2023 Winners

See 2022 Winners