Hi,I am working in US in quantitative asset management (mostly US equity selection, not high frequency) for 4 years now. I enjoy working on investments through both fundamental and quantitative analysis. I am more confident in my quantitative analysis, given my background (MS and BTech from top universities in US and India respectively), but it seems really hard to find significant alpha in equity space (especially US) these days. I can, however, find somewhat better results in non-US markets and have been thinking of moving to singapore/HK region.I have an MBA offer from a top European school, which can help me in starting a career in Singapore. But I am still a little worried about (low frequency) quant equity investing. I enjoy working on it, but would like to move to fundamental investments during MBA if the job opportunities are heavily skewed in favor of it. I have been job hunting for a few weeks and got a feel that most buy-side quantitative equity jobs are in the high frequency arena. I would appreciate if you can share your opinions on the following:a) How is the low-frequency quantitative equity portfolio management scene in Asia? Both in terms of how well it works from an excess returns perspective and from a job opportunities perspective.b) If I am going to learn a new language (not computer language), which one would make most sense, if I am working in Asian markets, from a business point of view? I know it is not necessary, but would like to learn something which would enhance my credentials. Right now I only know Hindi and English.*edit* c) Any comments on MBA in general. It is very expensive, and if I am going to stay in quantitative portfolio management, it doesn't add much value since I already have an MS from a good US school. *edit*Thanks

A few random thoughts.I have been in Singapore for about 12 years now, politically, while Singaporeans are generally pretty compliant, they are upset about losing jobs and the number of foreigners coming in. People are leaving now for Phillippines and India rather than coming in. Upshot of this is employment passes are harder to get, you can also only dream about getting an expat deal, don't even think about it. Also, as a fairly junior guy experience wise you will be broke, SG, HK and Tokyo are all damn expensive. While you may be well educated you seem to have a fairly short period of employment, you may find it tougher than you expect to be allowed to live here, why hire you, Singapore has plenty of it's own bright young things looking for a job (not trying to be difficult, just realistic in current environment).If you wish to live in Asia then learn Mandarin, otherwise (if and only if you wish to live in Japan) learn Japanese, both are f**king hard. Bahasa easy (relatively) but of very limited use but then Indonesia is a big place so going forwards may be a good idea. Don't need to though. If you want to live in HK then Cantonese useful but by no means essential. Overall Mandarin is your best bet but it is bloody hard.Only Americans care about MBAs. Get an Mfe instead but don't do it here, they churn out thousands who are mostly useless. IIM would be ok if you really want an MBA.Lastly, fixed income, Singapore/Tokyo, equity HK. Lots of funds here though doing all sorts.

If your MBA offer is from INSEAD, then it is worthwhile to take the offer and get the MBA. It is true that Singapore and HK and Dubai firms hire heavily from IIM-A,B,C, but admission rate in these institutes is something like 1:1,000, so it is not worthwhile to wait until you get admission into these institutes. INSEAD is rapidly building up its alumni base in Singapore and rest of Asia and it will prove useful to you in long run.It will take minimum four years to learn Mandarin even with lots of effort, so it is not a short-term goal.

Thanks for the replies. Yes, it is INSEAD and the biggest reason to apply was to make a career move to Singapore as they have a campus there (wanted to be closer to family and maybe have more opportunities in my area of interest since US seems kinda dried down right now). As a part of their curriculum, I have to learn a new language regardless, so I might just go with Mandarin. It definitely looks hard though.