Fuji Credit Asset Management has told Asian clients that Southeast Asia may have less to fear from IS activity than Europe and the United States. The firm’s assertion was made in a client note aimed at calming nerves following a deadly attack in the Indonesian capital, Jakarta in which 7 people were killed and several others wounded.

The militant group calling itself Islamic State apparently claimed responsibility for the attacks which took place mid-morning at downtown locations in the city. Fuji Credit Asset Management said that because Southeast Asian countries had no military presence in Syria or other conflict areas in the Middle East, it was likely that the Jakarta attacks were an isolated incident carried out at the behest of Jemaah Islamiyah rather than the IS leadership.

Jemaah Islamiyah is an Islamic militant group which claimed responsibility for a number of terrorist attacks in Indonesia including the 2002 Bali discotheque bombings in which over 200 people died. The group has its roots in the struggle against Dutch colonists in the 1940s but has modified its agenda to tackle what it describes as “Zionist influences” in the world’s most populous Muslim country.

“We don’t see Islamic terrorism as posing a fundamental problem in Southeast Asian markets as a whole,” said Fuji Credit Asset Management chief economist, Satoshi Mihuko. “We think investors can be fairly confident that these dreadful attacks in Jakarta won’t mark the start of a sustained campaign against Southeast Asian countries particularly as none of them have any stake in ongoing military operations against IS interests,” he added.

Fuji Credit Asset Management said it remains confident that the emerging markets will enjoy a mild renaissance in 2016 likely boosted by further foreign stimulus.

About Fuji Credit Asset Management:
Fuji Credit Asset Management is a fully independent, investment management practice that provides prudent, well-researched guidance and counsel to individuals, families and institutions with a need to accumulate and preserve wealth.

Fuji Credit Asset Management is a fee-only practice. This means that they are compensated solely by our clients and they neither accept nor solicit inducements or remuneration from product providers or financial institutions in return for endorsing or recommending particular investments or financial products.