Funds Management

Brandywine Global is conservatively positioned as it eyes volatile conditions and surging demand for fixed income solutions following a massive macro-economic reversal.

The supposed benchmark-beating powers of ESG have more to do with investors’ exposure to well-known factors rather than any sustainable secret sauce, according to quant house Scientific Beta.

The asset class is top of the private market pops as institutional investors fret valuations and liquidity in private equity and watch the ongoing commercial property dislocation with growing concern.

The energy transition is full of unknown unknowns, but there are still ways to get some certainty over returns as the world changes how it generates and distributes energy.

Commentators warn that a new default cycle will strip the shine from private debt strategies, but not all managers have been “sitting on their hands”. And the dislocation in commercial real estate is creating new opportunities for savvy managers.

While PwC expects the asset and wealth management sector to see a rebound in assets under management by 2027, it predicts a vastly changed landscape in which the top 10 per cent of managers will control half of all mutual fund assets globally.

The world of ethical investing continues to change, and Australian Ethical is investing in itself to keep up. A new CIO and a portfolio of impact investments from the Christian Super successor fund transfer are helping too.

There’s going to be plenty of low cost of capital opportunities for super funds as Australia’s existing power infrastructure is retired and replaced with renewable energy generation – not to mention its storage.

While making it through recent market events is an “accomplishment”, asset managers need to shake things up in order to survive. They’re doubling down on what worked in the past instead.

Even with the market-shaking events of 2022 mostly in the rearview and most of the valuation pressure now played out, equities won’t be moving much higher unless something big changes.

Vanguard usurped BlackRock as the biggest institutional fund manager in 2022 during a year where most firms went backwards, according to the latest Pensions & Investments global survey.

Investors have negative outlook “fatigue” and are tired of being cautious. But a large chunk of asset price falls have been due to earnings misses, and the lagged impact of monetary policy means the risks are still out in front.