The US Federal Reserve’s pivot to a liquidity-induced market environment over the past few years has not been conducive for many strategies and managers. The period of subdued volatility followed by COVID-19 caught many systematic and discretionary managers off guard. What strategies outperformed and where is extra due diligence required? Speakers: Sara Rejal, global head of liquid diversifying strategies, Willis Towers Watson Michael Sommers, principal consultant, Frontier Advisors Moderator: Laurence Parker-Brown, institutional content producer, Conexus Financial[vc_empty_space height=”10px”]

Key Takeaways

• Investors need to build an absolute returns strategy that suits their thinking about portfolio construction; this feeds into their willingness to accept stable or asymmetric returns streams and the conviction that they are willing to delegate to the manager.
• The recent COVID market sell down in March has resulted in many investors re-evaluating their investment time horizon and whether tail hedging is appropriate.
• To build a successful partnership with an asset manager, investors need to consider the culture fit – particularly when due diligence is restricted due to travel restrictions.

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Poll results

ESG is important to my fund and I would like to see it feature prominently within liquid macro strategies…[vc_line_chart x_values=”” values=”%5B%7B%22title%22%3A%22Strongly%20agree%22%2C%22y_values%22%3A%2234%22%2C%22color%22%3A%22blue%22%7D%2C%7B%22title%22%3A%22Slightly%20agree%22%2C%22y_values%22%3A%2214%22%2C%22color%22%3A%22pink%22%7D%2C%7B%22title%22%3A%22Neutral%22%2C%22y_values%22%3A%2231%22%2C%22color%22%3A%22chino%22%2C%22custom_color%22%3A%22%23f79468%22%7D%2C%7B%22title%22%3A%22Slightly%20disagree%22%2C%22y_values%22%3A%2211%22%2C%22color%22%3A%22mulled-wine%22%2C%22custom_color%22%3A%22%235472d2%22%7D%2C%7B%22title%22%3A%22Strongly%20disagree%22%2C%22y_values%22%3A%229%22%2C%22color%22%3A%22sky%22%2C%22custom_color%22%3A%22%2300c1cf%22%7D%5D”]