A new Cerulli Associates survey shows that Asian asset managers are targetting more mass-market investors and paying relatively less attention to high net worth individuals, reflecting changing economic dynamics.

Asian fund houses are more keen on targetting mass retail investors over high net worth investors in 2014, highlighting how rising affluence - and the rising difficulty of penetrating some markets - is affecting strategy, according to a survey by Cerulli Associates.

According to the study, in a scale of one to 10 (with 10 being "most keen"), asset managers who said they are most keen to tap mass market investors in 2014 was at 7.5, up from 7.0 in 2013. The compares with the 7.0 who are still focusing on HNW individuals, but from 7.9 in the previous year. 

The other types of investors asset managers are eyeing include emerging market or affluent investors, from 7.0 to 6.5, insurance companies with general account assets, from 5.0 to 5.8, and insurance firms with separate account assets, from 6.1 in 2013 to 5.7.

The study said that asset managers are slowly veering away from private banks and the like, which have become harder to access. This resulted in a shift of interests to mass-market clients, whose incomes are rising and who are becoming more aggressive about their wealth goes. 

"It makes sense as fund managers expand their footprints to look at mass market clients, which often form the bread-and-butter of any retail business. However, managers will need to remember the cost of acquisition for this client segment is high and returns are often long-term," said Yoon Ng, the Singapore-based Asia research director for Cerulli.

Mass market investors scored highest on the agenda of firms in Taiwan, India and China, while HNWIs as a key source of assets for now and the foreseeable future are placed second or third on the priority lists of managers in Singapore, Taiwan, India, Korea and China.

The survey was conducted in March 2014 and appeared on its flagship annual publication, Asian Distribution Dynamics 2014. Ng noted that the study targetted heads of distribution or retail business, which likely also explains why the results show priority on retail, rather than institutional clients.