Hong Leong Bank says artificial intelligence (AI) will be a potential “next frontier,” with the sector’s focus on healthcare, energy, power management and quantum computing presenting significant opportunities in the new year.
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00:00What are some key growth areas you see that have potential this year from an industry
00:08standpoint?
00:09I think key growth, definitely AI.
00:11I think we're just beginning of a cycle in AI.
00:13If you look at back in 30 decades ago, we have the PC boom and then the internet boom.
00:19I think the AI boom has just started.
00:21At least the cycle will remain the same or even get stronger the next five, 10 years.
00:24So we're very, very bullish on AI.
00:26The other area that we really like is actually healthcare.
00:28I think a lot of the technology advancements that's coming from AI will be applicable
00:33on the healthcare side.
00:35And lastly, I think on the back of a cheapening of cost of production, we think renewable
00:40energy will continue to be very strong.
00:42We saw what happened this year with extreme weather.
00:45So I think we believe that renewables is an area that we should focus on.
00:47As an experienced wealth and investment expert, how has the space changed over the years?
00:52Are people investing differently?
00:54Okay, I think a lot has changed.
00:56I think a few things.
00:58On the back of high volatility, we believe a lot more investors are now a bit more cautious
01:04of actually taking decisions on themselves.
01:06So a lot of money now is actually being managed by professional managers.
01:09I think that trend will continue.
01:11It's not very dissimilar with other markets.
01:13It's just that it started many, many decades ago, where a lot of money is being managed
01:18by professional managers.
01:19Asian investors tend to want to invest a lot on themselves, by themselves, make decisions
01:23themselves.
01:24So I think that trend is going to continue to move more of the investment decisions given
01:26to a professional manager.
01:28Secondly, I think the interest on alternative investment is very, very strong.
01:33If you look at a lot of the interesting companies, interesting sectors, many of those companies
01:38are not in the public markets.
01:40So we really like some of the private asset space, especially real estate infrastructure
01:44and some of the selective private equity markets on the alternative side.
01:48And lastly, I think in terms of how the wealth management landscape and investment has changed,
01:54I think digital is a big aspect.
01:56And especially with the younger generations, I think they tend to want to talk to RM sometimes,
02:01but not that often.
02:02So making digital available on their hand is something that wealth managers need to
02:07be aware of.
02:08I think there is tremendous opportunity for wealth management in this part of the world.
02:11If you combine India, China and ASEAN alone, we're talking about a 3 billion population
02:17and rising middle income.
02:19We are known to be a very strong commercial bank, a very strong SME bank.
02:23On the wealth management side, I think we are looking to expand our presence a bit more.
02:29You will see a lot more from us in the next couple of months.