Mark Mobius

Joseph Mark Mobius (born August 17, 1936) is an emerging markets fund manager at Franklin Templeton Investments. Mark Mobius, Ph.D., executive chairman of Templeton Emerging Markets Group, joined Templeton in 1987. Currently, he directs the Templeton research team based in 18 global emerging markets offices and manages emerging markets portfolios.^[1]

Biography

Joseph Benhard Mark Mobius was born to German and Puerto-Rican parents in Hempstead, New York. He earned his B.A. and M.S. in Communications from Boston University, and received a Ph.D in economics from MIT in 1964.^[2] He also studied at the University of Wisconsin, University of New Mexico, and Kyoto University in Japan. He joined Templeton in 1987 as president of the Templeton Emerging Markets Fund (NYSE: EMF), a closed end mutual fund, and there integrated his knowledge of new international markets with Sir John Templeton's disciplined, long term approach to investing.^[3] This was the first emerging market equity fund available to US investors,^[4] and Mobius' one key condition to take on this challenge was that Templeton must open its first emerging market office, which it did in Hong Kong.^[4]

His current duties include managing over 50 closed-end and open-end mutual funds worldwide including 17 offices overseas.^[5]

Before joining Templeton, Mobius worked at international securities firm Vickers-da-Costa, and later was president of International Investment Trust Company in Taipei, Taiwan. He once ran an independent consulting company that marketed among other things, Snoopy cartoon merchandise.

Born a U.S. citizen, Mobius was also entitled to German citizenship by descent. He renounced his U.S. citizenship and is now a German citizen.^[6]

Industry Recognition

Mobius has been a key figure in developing international policy for emerging markets. In 1999, he was selected to serve on the World Bank's Global Corporate Governance Forum as a member of the Private Sector Advisory Group and as co-chair of the Investor Responsibility Taskforce.^[7] He has also been featured as a speaker ^[8] for the World Bank in 1999 and has given seminars for many other groups, including for the Asian Development Bank in 2002^[9] and as a motivational speaker for the London Speaker Bureau.^[10]

As a recognized industry expert, Mobius appears frequently on financial industry television shows and networks, including Bloomberg, CNBC, MSNBC, and CNN, and has given/written thousands of interviews and opinion pieces over the years.

After more than 40 years in global emerging markets, Dr. Mobius has received numerous industry awards, including being named one of Bloomberg Markets Magazine’s “50 Most Influential People” in 2011, “Emerging Markets Equity Manager of the Year 2001” by International Money Marketing, “Ten Top Money Managers of the 20th Century” in a 1999 Carson Group survey, “Number One Global Emerging Market Fund” in a 1998 Reuters Survey, “1994 First in Business Money Manager of the Year” by CNBC, “Closed-End Fund Manager of the Year” in 1993 by Morningstar, and “Investment Trust Manager of the Year 1992” by the Sunday Telegraph.^[1]

Among them are:

• One of "Top 100 Most Powerful and Influential People" by Asiamoney magazine. 2006.
• "Emerging Markets Equity Manager of the Year 2001" by International Money Marketing, 2001.
• "Ten Top Money Managers of the 20th Century" by the Carson Group, 1999.
• "Number One Global Emerging Market Fund" by Reuters, 1998.
• "1994 First in Business Money Manager of the Year" by CNBC, 1994.
• "Closed-End Fund Manager of the Year" by Morningstar, 1993.
• "Investment Trust Manager of the Year 1992" by Sunday Telegraph, 1992.

Mobius has also been given various humorous nicknames over the years, including the "Pied Piper of emerging markets",^[11] the "dean of emerging markets",^[12] a world "globetrotter",^[13][14] and the Yul Brynner of Wall Street^[15] due to his signature bald head look.

Mobius is also a regular monthly columnist for the Asia Tatler group of magazines, wherein he authors a column on "Wealth"^[16]

A comic book on the life of Mark Mobius was published in 2007: "Mark Mobius — An Illustrated Biography of the Father of Emerging Markets Funds" is currently translated into six languages (English, Traditional Chinese, Korean, Indonesian, Thai and Japanese) and available in numerous countries.^[17]

Selected publications

Dr. Mobius has written several books, including “Trading with China,” “The Investor’s Guide to Emerging Markets,” “Mobius on Emerging Markets,” “Passport to Profits,” “Equities—An Introduction to the Core Concepts,” “Mutual Funds—An Introduction to the Core Concepts,” ”The Little Book of Emerging Markets,” and “Mark Mobius: An Illustrated Biography.” ^[1]

• Debt Markets (Mark Mobius Financial Insights), 2008. ISBN 0-470-82147-7
• Risk Management (Mark Mobius Financial Insights), 2008. ISBN 0-470-82149-3
• Derivatives (Mark Mobius Financial Insights), 2008. ISBN 0-470-82146-9
• Foreign Exchange and Money Markets (Mark Mobius Masterclass), 2007. ISBN 0-470-82145-0
• Technical Analysis: An Introduction To The Core Concepts, 2007. ISBN 0-470-82148-5
• Mutual Funds: An Introduction To The Core Concepts, 2007. ISBN 0-470-82143-4
• Equities: An Introduction To The Core Concepts, 2006. ISBN 0-470-82144-2
• Passport to Profits, 1999. ISBN 0-446-52251-1
• Mobius on Emerging Markets, 1996. ISBN 0-273-62284-6
• The Investor's Guide to Emerging Markets, 1994. ISBN 0-273-60327-2
• Trading With China, 1973. ISBN 0-668-02908-0

References

External links

• Notes from Mark Mobius Templeton Blog 2009
• PSB In-depth interview Philosophy of emerging markets. May 2001.
• Franklin Templeton Global Perspectives. Overview on Emerging Markets, March 2008
• BBC interview Investing in emerging markets, June 2008
• Investors Chronicle interview Mark Mobius tips Turkey, S. Africa, July 2008
• Podcast: Mark Mobius Ten top investment tips, June 2009