Asian fund managers are planning to boost their investment workforce in anticipation of the strong performance of equity markets this year. This increase will come on top of a rise in the average number of investment professionals by more than a third bringing it to 11.6 in the past two years, report Greenwich Associates, the US consultancy.

This is not surprising given the stellar performance of the Asian stocks in the previous 24 months, beating European and US markets.

John Feng, a consultant at Greenwich, said: "Given the rise in the market and the inflow of overseas money into Asian funds, companies need more people to manage their growing assets."

Greenwich Associates say poll results reveal a 9% increase in expectations of average bonuses for last year’s performance.

"Rather than reflecting any lack of discipline [in negotiating commission rates], it appears that the willingness to pay higher commission rates is part of Asian investors’ overall effort to secure investment ideas from their brokers," said Linda Nockler, Greenwich’s vice president.