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Benchmark design for an active investment process

Choosing the appropriate benchmark for active managers is a common debate among institutional investors. Norges Bank Investment Management has produced a “discussion note’ on the benchmark design for an active investment process, in which it introduces a flexible modelling framework that aims to incentivise each portfolio manager to utilise their stock-picking skill.   The benchmark […]
Amanda WhiteNovember 28, 2014
Research

Breaking down emerging markets active returns

New research by MSCI shows a rare insight into whether the factor phenomenon, driving development market equities beta, is at play in emerging markets. The research uses the Barra Emerging Markets Equity Model to look at the drivers of performance of emerging markets, and analyses the returns of active emerging market managers to identify the […]
Amanda WhiteNovember 21, 2014
Investor Profile

Better beta bets pay off for UTAM

The $6.6 billion University of Toronto Asset Management made some significant active tilts last year resulting in the return on the university’s main portfolio exceeding target return by about 10 per cent. Amanda White spoke to president and chief executive, Bill Moriarty.   Last year was a reasonably easy environment in which to make better […]
Amanda WhiteApril 16, 2014
Research

Systemic tail risk

A research paper by executives at the Dutch Central Bank, De Nederlandsche Bank, examines tail risk, and shows that historical tail betas are able to capture the sensitivity to future systematic tail risk.   The paper can be downloaded here  Systemic tail risk
Amanda WhiteJanuary 31, 2014
Uncategorised posts

Breakfast with AQR’s Cliff Asness

Having a breakfast meeting with Cliff Asness is a wake-up call. He will let you know if you’re late – something he holds in very little regard. He admits he has to constantly remind himself that just because he’s 20 minutes early to everything that others are not automatically then 20 minutes late. Asness is […]
Amanda WhiteMarch 1, 2013
Uncategorised posts

ATP reunites alpha and beta after 6 years

Alpha and beta rely to a large extent on exposures to systematic risk factors, so goes the “2013 thinking” of ATP in reversing the decision to separate alpha and beta in its investment portfolio six years ago. ATP has separate hedging and investment portfolios, with the hedging portfolio significantly larger at around DKK 670 billion […]
Amanda WhiteFebruary 6, 2013
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