Displaying items by tag: smas

According to Morningstar's separate account/collective investment trust database, the top-performing fixed-income managers in 2022 managed to post positive returns during a historically tough year for the asset class. Five of the top 10 managers were in Morningstar's ultrashort bond category, while three were in the multisector bond category. The remaining two included one in the non-traditional bond category, and one, which was the top overall, in Morningstar's muni national long bond category. That top-performing strategy was the 16th Amendment Advisors LLC's Vicksburg strategy, which posted a gross return of 46.03% for the year. John J. Lee, a co-founder and managing member of the firm, said in an email to Pension & Investments, that the strategy benefited from a "cautious and bearish outlook on interest rates in general. Further, it took advantage of the disarray in the marketplace due to sharply rising rates and historically volatile markets." Lee said that it “holds investment-grade municipal bonds, corporate bonds, and their hedges in a strategy that is targeted to investors looking for non-correlated high-grade fixed-income exposure.” The second-ranked strategy was T. Rowe Price's dynamic global bond strategy, which returned 4.66% for the year. The strategy falls into Morningstar's non-traditional bond category and holds U.S. and international debt securities.

Finsum:According to Morningstar's SMA/CIT database, five of the top ten performing fixed-income managers were in the ultrashort bond category, three were in the multisector bond category, while the top two overall were in the muni national long bond category and the non-traditional bond category.

Natixis Investment Management Solutions and German index provider Solactive announced that they have partnered to offer direct indexing separately managed accounts (SMAs). The partnership will see Natixis offer its managed account clients exposure to 31 Solactive indices, including 11 of its global benchmark and 16 of its factor series. Solactive’s global benchmark suite covers 24 developed and 24 emerging markets, while its factor range covers value, quality, momentum, low volatility, growth, and small caps. Natixis’s direct indexing business has grown from $4 million in assets under management in 2002 to $8 billion today. The firm attributes this success to evolutions in the business such as falling trading fees and fractionalization that have increased retail investors’ ability to benefit from customized asset allocation. Timo Pfeiffer, chief markets officer at Solactive, had this to say about the collaboration, “Direct indexing has been progressively gaining popularity to a larger group of investors, particularly in the U.S. With this tool, investors can allocate their assets to a tailored portfolio with a Solactive benchmark as a starting point, applying numerous kinds of filters according to their needs and world views.” Curt Overway, co-head of Natixis Investment Management, added, “We are excited to begin working with Solactive and their comprehensive suite of indices, which will allow us to extend the range of capabilities and strategies we offer as part of our Active Index Advisors (AIA) offering.”

Finsum:Natixis Investment Management Solutions is extending its range of capabilities and strategies by partnering with German index provider Solactive to offer directing indexing SMAs.

Portfolio management and trading platform Vestmark recently announced that it has launched six separately managed account investment strategies, the firm’s first asset management offering. The strategies, called "Focused Index Portfolios,” follow S&P Dow Jones Indices, but in an SMA wrapper to allow for some customization and tax-loss harvesting. Robert Battista, senior vice president, and managing director of Vestmark Advisory Solutions said that the firm sees the launch as a first step toward a fully personalized direct indexing investment platform which Vestmark expects to roll out later in the year. The portfolios have minimums as low as $100,000, with fees comparable to an ETF. Three of the Index Portfolios are based on custom indices Vestmark built with S&P Dow Jones, including the S&P 500 Focused 100 VAST Portfolio, the S&P 500 Focused 50 VAST Portfolio, and the S&P 500 Catholic Values Focused 100 VAST Portfolio. The other three strategies are based on existing indices such as the Dow Jones U.S. Dividend 100 VAST Portfolio, the S&P 500 ESG Elite VAST Portfolio, and the S&P Developed Markets 100 ADR xUS VAST Portfolio. For now, the new strategies are available in the Vestmark Manager Marketplace, but Vestmark plans to distribute them to broker/dealers, independent advisors, and RIAs via a new sales team dedicated to the company's direct indexing services.

Finsum:Trading platform Vestmark launched six index portfolios as the firm's first step towards a fully personalized direct indexing investment platform which is expected later in the year.

After a tough year for the markets, asset managers are bracing for cost-cutting in 2023. Revenues were down across the industry last year as falling markets hit both management and performance fees. In the U.S., total assets in mutual funds and ETFs dropped 17 percent between the start of 2022 and the end of October, according to data from the Investment Company Institute. This will force asset managers to cut costs and make tough decisions this year about how to grow. Some asset managers are predicting that the downturn will accelerate the shift by clients from mutual funds and brokerage accounts to other ways of investing, such as ETFs, separately managed accounts, and model portfolios. Martin Small, head of BlackRock’s US wealth advisory business and the firm’s incoming chief financial officer, told Financial Times, “Whenever there are super shocks in the market, people make big changes to their portfolios. This is when people do deferred maintenance. In U.S. retail markets, there is a move from brokerage accounts to fee-based advisory, which means more model portfolios and more ETFs.”

Finsum:After a tough year in the markets, some asset managers are predicting a shift towards model portfolios, ETFs, and SMAs for clients.

Thornburg Investment Management recently introduced Thornburg Personal ESG Portfolios, a new separately managed account capability that can provide investors with the ability to emphasize ESG factors within their portfolios. The firm, which has $40 billion in client assets, said in a press release that “ESG is an organic extension of Thornburg's core investment competencies as a fundamental, bottom-up, active manager of global equities and global fixed income.” Thornburg will not outsource the ESG decisions. Instead, its analysts and portfolio managers will evaluate ESG information alongside other factors, grounded by materiality standards from the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board. The ESG Portfolios will be available through select financial advisory firms and platforms. As part of the announcement, Jason Brady, president & CEO of Thornburg investment management stated "We know that investing with ESG criteria can mean different things to different people. By addressing both these factors in Thornburg Personal ESG Portfolios, we seek to offer a unique opportunity for investors to personalize their portfolios to their ESG values."

Finsum:Investors will now have even more access to ESG-focused SMAs with the launch of the Thornburg Personal ESG Portfolios.