Asia’s fixed income markets demonstrated resilience amid challenging macroeconomic conditions, geopolitical tensions, and evolving trade policies. Tariffs – particularly those associated with the ongoing China-US trade tensions and broader US trade restrictions – have intensified market volatility and altered investor behaviour. 

On the one hand, investor sentiment weakened following US President Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day” as uncertainty over what it might mean for emerging markets took precedence. As a result, yield spreads between short- and long-dated government bonds widened notably in markets such as Thailand, South Korea, and the Philippines. This reflects concerns over tariff-induced inflation, potential supply chain disruptions, and the impact on future economic growth.

On the other hand, rising debt levels and deteriorating fiscal position in the US dented investor confidence in US dollar-denominated assets, leading to a broad strengthening of Asian currencies. The Taiwan dollar, for example, appreciated by 9% to 12% during this period, while the Indian rupee, Vietnamese dong, and Indonesian rupiah underperformed.

It is against this backdrop that Asset Benchmark Research ( ABR ), the data analytics unit of The Asset, launched this year’s ABR Local Currency Bond Review and the ABR G3 Bond Review. The twin surveys, the longest-running of their kind in Asia, assess the quality of sellside service of the who’s who in the region’s fixed income markets and top-rated institutions.

The two reviews ran for a total of 13 weeks, starting with the ABR Local Currency Bond Review, which opened at the start of April 2025 and concluded at the end of June 2025. The ABR G3 Bond Review was launched in mid-May 2025 and concluded in mid-August 2025. The sellside services under review by the buyside include the quality of research, sales, and trading.

In one of the most extensive reviews canvassing the sentiment of the buyside on the quality of sellside individuals – the Best of the Sellside – over 1,200 investors participated this year. For the ABR Local Currency Bond Review, over 380 sellside individuals were nominated. The most active markets were the local-currency markets of India, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Pan-Asia.

For the ABR G3 Bond Review, over 250 sellside individuals were nominated. This year’s most active markets for salespeople were Hong Kong and Singapore. Nominations were also received for eight sales individuals based in the Philippines, a new market for ABR G3 Bond Review.

Among the notable winners for this year’s Best of the Sellside is Chaitanya Sampat, executive director and head of credit sales at Morgan Stanley, who scooped up the top spot for sales, Indian rupee bonds. Sampat joined Morgan Stanley last year from Standard Chartered, where he was most recently executive director and head of credit and investor sales. With a career spanning nearly 20 years, Sampat has ranked as among ABR’s Best of the Sellside for the past ten years. He started his career at ICICI Bank.

Another standout this year is Winson Phoon, who heads up research at Maybank. Another decade-long winner at ABR’s Best of the Sellside, Phoon is the go-to expert on the ringgit bond market, sharing commentaries on foreign bond inflows, currency performance, and yield outlook. He takes the top spot once again for research, Malaysia ringgit bond market.

For Pan-Asia, Ai-Li Ong at United Overseas Bank ( UOB ) returns to the top spot in trading, based on the latest ABR Local Currency Bond Review results. She serves as UOB’s director of fixed income and credit sales with her expertise in local currency bonds across the region. She has been ranked as among the Best of the Sellside for the past ten years.

In ABR G3 Bond Review, among the notable winners is Nicholas Yap, who heads the flow credit desk analysts for the region at Nomura. He joined the firm a decade ago and has been among the top-ranked analysts at the ABR G3 Bond Review for the past five years. This year, Yap takes the top spot, jumping two spots from his 3rd place in 2024.

Two of the Best of the Sellside individuals in ABR G3 Bond Review are from Deutsche Bank. Owen Gallimore, managing director, Asia-Pacific, at the bank, once again was ranked first in the economist/strategist category. Meanwhile, Alissa Ren, head of Asia investment-grade flow credit trading, moves up to the top spot this year in the trader category. Together with Gallimore, Ren has received top rankings for the past five years.

In South Korea, among the biggest movers is Jun An, who handles fixed income sales at Wells Fargo. He jumps four places to the top spot in the sales category of the ABR G3 Bond Review. Previous to that, he was highly commended in 2023. This year marks his third year in the rankings.

For the full list of Best of the Sellside individual winners and houses for the ABR Local Currency Bond Review and the ABR G3 Bond Review please download TheAsset App.

The Asset is organizing the annual ABR Fixed Income Gala Dinner for the Best of the Sellside and the Most Astute Investors on the 6th of November 2025 in Singapore. Seats and table bookings are limited. To join, please send an email to – celebrate@TheAsset.com.