Since the emergence of “Modern Portfolio Theory” and the “Capital Asset Pricing Model” in the late 1960s, institutional investors have taken a quantitatively driven approach to portfolio construction, looking to create portfolio diversification and obtain better risk-adjusted returns by balancing their asset-class exposures. This journey has seen several important advancements in thinking about how to optimally achieve desired results.
Funds that want to take the total portfolio approach first need to get the total portfolio view. To do that they not only need data – and lots of it – but a rock-solid understanding of exactly how they’re going to use it.
UniSuper to offer credit option
(Pictured: John Pearce)
UniSuper, the fund for higher education professionals and staff, is looking to boost its range of sector specific options to ten, with a credit option, but chief investment officer, John Pearce, says its unlikely they will offer more options than that anytime soon.
“If you focus on just a small range of options you can manage it better,” he says.
He fears that industry funds could become their own worst enemy if they try to compete with retail funds and offer too many products.
Funds need to ask whether something is a “compelling proposition for the whole member base”, he says.
Pearce, who was previously chief executive officer and general manager investments for Colonial First State from 2002 to 2007, moved back to Australia to take up the role at UniSuper in 2009 after a brief stint in Singapore. (Read more about Pearce’s transition in Industry Moves on Thursday).
The credit option should be available to UniSuper members in the next few months and a number of global credit managers have been shortlisted for the fund with a decision to be made next month.
UniSuper has over $39.5 billion in funds under management, 40 per cent of which is managed in-house, and more than 450,000 members.
