David Villa, CIO of the $110 billion State of Wisconsin Investment Board is worried about the outlook for returns. As a result he’s significantly underweight sovereign bonds in favour of cash. But he’s also positioning the organisation to do better analytics for more complicated portfolios, another result of a low return environment. The fund is working on at least five data and technology projects and has hired a chief technology and operations officer.
There is still alpha in public equities markets, says Ron Mock, chief executive of the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, who supports the fund’s allocation to hedge funds. Mock’s “faith” in active management extends to quantitative strategies – with the right managers.
Companies that deliver on sustainability are starting to trade at a premium and investors need to shop for value. New research, by George Serafeim, professor of business administration, Harvard Business School, shows big data and ESG ratings can combine to find alpha.
Many hedge fund portfolios perform well before costs but fall into negative alpha after charges are levied, Canadian firm CEM Benchmarking's analysis of nearly 400 large investors has found.
Hiro Mizuno, CIO of the world's largest investor, told the CFA conference that in exchange for multi-year commitments its mandates would now claw back fees when firms don't reach alpha targets.
Investors need to face the reality of lower returns and adjust their portfolios accordingly, the co-CIO of hedge-fund giant Bridgewater said.
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