Atsuto Sawakami

Mr. Sawakami has started his career in the field of investment business as an analyst and fund advisor at Capital International in Switzerland starting 1970. Later on, he was posted as the Representative of Pictet & Cie Japan from 1980 to 1996. Subsequently he established an independent asset advisory management company, Sawakami Asset Management Inc. (SAMI) which offered investment advisory services to its clients, based on the long-term views.

Three years later, in 1999, SAMI embarked the Sawakami Fund, an open-ended fund starting with a mere initial investment asset of 1.6 billion yen. As of September 1, 2008, the fund's assets has amounted to over 200 billion yen with 110 thousand plus fund holders in nine years since its inception. AUM growth was achieved through word-of-mouth communication among the fund holders as SAMI does not leverage any traditional marketing communications such as CM, DM or telemarketing.

SAMI is dedicated to direct-marketing and places overall clients' interests side-by-side with its long-term investment policies. In fact, SAMI will always hold on to its long-term investment policy as Mr. Sawakami's mission is to make the long-term investment a more common choice for the asset building of Japanese households.