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The Rise, Maturation Of Asia's EAMs: A Summary Of Coverage

Editorial Staff

22 April 2025

During recent weeks, WealthBriefingAsia has published interviews and articles about the external asset managers (EAMs) market in Asia. The term “EAM” can be synonymous with “independent wealth manager”; sometimes the term covers multi-family offices. (There are fuzzy boundaries with such terminology, and that is particularly the case when the word “independent” comes up.)

According to a paper from Singapore Management University in May 2022, the sector can be defined as follows: “The EAM business relies on a unique business model that is different from the traditional private wealth management model. Typically, when a high net worth client opens an investment account with a bank, the bank’s in-house investment professionals would manage the account.

“However, with the EAM model, an external party manages the investments, while the bank services the account. The EAM offers investment advisory, discretionary portfolio management, tax, and succession planning services, as well as advice to the custodian bank where the client opens the account. The client then appoints the EAM to manage the assets with the custodian bank based on a Limited Power of Attorney (LPOA) over the account. The model thus creates a tripartite relationship among the client, the custodian bank, and the EAM.”