Investment consulting for private investors, family offices and UHNWI

Is faith in past winners justified?

Rankings of top performers are publicly available for retail funds. However, databases for institutional mandates (segregated accounts and institutional funds) are still incomplete and rare. For our historical simulation of picking past winners we use a set of track records that were submitted by asset managers as part of public and non-public mandate tenders for institutional clients in Europe.

Responsible Investing – General Considerations and Implications for Fixed Income

Asset Liability Management Today – Is it Still ‘Fit for Purpose’?

The target of asset liability management is to align the assets to the liabilities, i.e. managing risks due to mismatches between the assets and liabilities.

Home Bias – Swiss Pension Fund Experience

Challenges Pension Funds Face due to Low Interest Rates

Risk-averse asset-only investors should go for short duration as risk return is distributed highly asymmetrically.

Common Pitfalls of RFPs

Investment Strategies in the Year 2013 - English Version

In the year 2013, there were losses in the bond markets, while equity markets had high positive returns. As a result, the investment results of the different strategies varied widely. Pension funds, which have fully used their risk capacity through a large equity exposure, were able to benefit from this market environment. In addition, currency hedging and investments in corporate bonds, small caps, and non-listed real estate were positive as well...

Is factor-based allocation new?

Factor-based allocation may be theoretically interesting for Swiss pension funds but it is hard to implement in a practical way.

Asset Manager Selection based on historical performance - English Version

Historical performance is a frequently used criterion to select asset managers. Our empirical analysis, however, shows that after hiring an asset manager with such an outstanding performance, the asset manager performs significantly worse in the period after the selection. In some cases, the selected managers even performed significantly worse than a control sample.

In Search of New Risk Premia

Risk Shifting and Performance in Equity Portfolios

Understanding the Link between «Active Share» and Future Performance in Equity Portfolios

Pension Fund Governance Where do we go from here?

Asset Manager Selection under Public Procurement Legislation

"Why has the selection process and transparency become more important in the search of asset managers? What is different in a public procurement process under EU Regulation than in a ´normal´ selection process? How to deal with a very high number of candidates? Our experiences with public tenders in the last 5 years"

The Swiss Pensions System: Risk Management?... Lessons Learned