Conversations with Institutional Investors

Daniel Graña is a portfolio manager for emerging market equity with Janus Henderson Investors. In this episode of the [i3] Podcast, we spoke about the importance of top down analysis in emerging markets, regulatory change in China, the influence of the pandemic on the region and on his investment process, and nationalising local hardware shops in Cuba. Please enjoy the show. Overview of podcast wi...

This episode of the [i3] Podcast is different from our normal focus on institutional investments issues. Here, we talk about the importance of mental health with Joel Clapham, who is the founder and Chief Mental Health Champ at Hearten Up, a company that provides mental health first aid advice and training. In this interview, we talk about how Joel was a successful marketing and communications exe...

Alistair Barker is the Head of Total Portfolio Management, Investments for AustralianSuper, one of the largest pension funds in the country at $200 billion. In this episode, we spoke about dynamic asset allocation, the impact of the Your Future, Your Super reforms on active management and technological disruption. Please enjoy the show. 1:00 Starting out as a intern without pay 3:00 Working at Has...

Ward Brown is a fixed income portfolio manager for MFS Investment Management and runs an emerging market debt strategy. Brown started focusing on emerging markets, while he worked at the International Monetary Fund. We talked about his time at the IMF, geopolitical tensions and the global pandemic. Enjoy the show! Overview of podcast with Ward Brown, Fixed Income Portfolio Manager, MFS 2:00 Studyi...

Steve Wreford is a portfolio manager in the Global Thematic Equity team with Lazard Asset Management. In this episode, we talked about the difference between an investment theme and a good story, sell discipline, monetary policy ("It is hubris!") and non-linear structural changes. Please enjoy the show! Overview of podcast with Steve Wreford, Lazard Asset Management: 3:00 My father gave me a book...

Dr. Sushil Wadhwani is the Chief Investment Officer of PGIM-owned systematic macro manager QMA Wadhwani. Dr. Wadhwani has an impressive resume, including as member of the Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank of England and economist at the London School of Economics. In this episode, we talked about the sense and nonsense of monetary policy, Keynes and the notion of animal spirits as applied to l...

In this podcast, we speak with Daniela Jaramillo, Senior Responsible Investment Adviser with pension fund HESTA about the risk of the transition to renewable energy and a low carbon economy, whether to divest or to continue engagement and socially stranded assets. This podcast is brought to you in partnership with Trillium Asset Management. Please enjoy the show. Overview of Podcast with Daniela J...

Nicole Bradford is Global Head of Responsible Investment for superannuation fund Cbus. In this podcast, we speak about Cbus' commitment to achieve net zero carbon by 2050, the UN-backed sustainable development goals and green washing. This podcast is brought to you in partnership with Trillium Asset Management. Overview of Podcast with Nicole Bradford, Global Head of Responsible Investment, Cbus 3...

Matt Patsky is Chief Executive Officer and Portfolio Manager at sustainable investment firm Trillium, which was recently acquired by Perpetual. In this interview, we talk about the power of Facebook, truth and fiction in media, excessive remuneration and rainbow washing. We also discuss the impact the Trump presidency has had on the ESG industry. "A shift has occurred [in attitudes towards sustain...

Professor Deep Kapur is Director at the Monash Centre for Financial Studies in Melbourne, Australia. He is also a member of the investment committee of pension fund REST. Professor Kapur has had a varied career, spanning asset consulting, investment banking and academia. In this podcast, we speak about the lessons learned from the various crises since the 1980s, his experience running a machine le...

Andrew Fisher is Head of Asset Allocation at Australian pension fund Sunsuper. We discussed the impact of how the markets have changed since the 2008 financial crisis on asset allocation and whether these changes are structural or part of a very long cycle. We also discuss the fund's partnership program, whether value is truly a risk premium and retirement products. Enjoy! Overview of podcast with...

Michael Hunstad is Head of Quantitative Research for Northern Trust Asset Management. Michael and his team have produced a report which analyses risk in more than 200 portfolios and over a 1,000 equity strategies over a period of four years. They found that there are six drivers of unintended outcomes in portfolios, including uncompensated risk and unintended style biases. We speak with Michael ab...

Professor Bill Mitchell is one of the key figures behind the Modern Monetary Theory, a term he coined himself. We talk to Professor about the impact of the pandemic on economies, what can be done about the sky-high unemployment rates and why ultimately unemployment is a political choice. Overview of Podcast with Bill Mitchell, University of Newcastle 1:00 You coined the term 'Modern Monetary Theor...

Nathan Fabian is Chief Responsible Investment Officer with the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI). The PRI believes that financial markets today have not adequately priced-in the likely near-term policy response to climate change. In this podcast, we talk about the release of the Inevitable Policy Response, a project that aims to prepare investors for the associated portfolio risks. Overv...

In Episode 49 of the [i3] Podcast, we speak with Stephen Laipply, US Head of iShares Fixed Income ETFs for BlackRock. We discuss how fixed income exchange traded funds (ETFs) fared during March and April of this year, when many bond markets froze due the global pandemic. We talk about price discovery in listed and OTC markets and the question whether we will ever see an institutional grade portfol...

Rob Arnott is the founder and Chairman of Research Affiliates. In January, he published a paper that looked into the question of why the value premium hasn't worked for the last decade, called 'Reports of Value's Death May Be Greatly Exaggerated'. In this interview, we talk about the paper, how the current downturn due to the coronavirus might impact factors and why Arnott would never take Researc...

Multi-manager firm Pinebridge Investments is a partner of Australian pension fund SunSuper and was given the task to write a research paper on how it decided to go active or passive in a particular market. Michael Kelly is Global Head of Multi-Asset at Pinebridge and takes us through the research paper. He also talks about his entry into the investment industry, including playing softball with Ala...

Stewart Brentnall is the Chief Investment Officer of Tcorp, the asset management arm of state of NSW. In this interview we discuss the fund's move towards a total portfolio approach, how TCorp views partnerships with fund managers and his thoughts on the Canadian Model. Overview of podcast with Stewart Brentnall: 2:00 Getting started in investing. 2:40 My first boss, while I was on secondment to C...

Bob Michele is Chief Investment Officer and Head of the Global Fixed Income, Currency & Commodities Group at JP Morgan. At the end of every year, Bob writes a tongue-in-cheek blog post, handing out awards to various fixed income asset classes and events. We discuss yield inversion, gold, cryptocurrencies, MMT and more. * Please note that this recording was made before the coronavirus became a pand...

Adrian Banner is Chief Executive Officer and Chief Investment Officer at Intech Investment Management, a Janus Henderson business. Adrian is also a former maths lecturer at Princeton University, author of the book "The Calculus Lifesaver and last but not least a recorded musician, playing piano. In this podcast, we talk about the importance of rebalancing, which might explain a large part of the s...

Note: This podcast was recorded before Blackrock announced to divest from thermal coal in its active strategies. Climate change has been a divisive issue in the investment world, as many investors struggle to articulate the impact of this development on their portfolios. But Tim Buckley brings clarity to this discussion with a sharp analytical framework of how climate change and the ongoing transi...

Greg Cooper was for many years the Chief Executive Officer for Schroder Investment Management in Australia. More recently, he joined TCorp, the AU$ 93 billion government asset manager for the state of NSW, as chair of the investment committee and non-executive director. We speak with Greg about whether public markets are broken, the state of active management and his interest in the venture capita...

Vijoy Chattergy is the founder and president of VMLH, a consulting firm for global institutional investors. Previously, Vijoy was Chief Investment Officer of the US$17.5 billion State of Hawai'i Employees Retirement System. He is well known for implementing an investment philosophy that focuses on functional risk classes instead of asset classes, which led him to create a Crisis Risk Offset sleeve...

Fiona Trafford-Walker is one of the world's most respected asset consultants. Trafford-Walker is a founding member of Frontier Advisors and has advised many of Australia's largest pension funds on their investment strategy. Currently, she is a Director and member of the Investment Committee at Frontier, but has announced to leave the company on 6 December 2019 to focus on her directorships. She is...

MarketFox columnist Daniel Grioli speaks with Tim Hayes, Chief Global Investment Strategist, Joe Kalish, Chief Global Macro Strategist and Ed Clissold, Chief US Strategist of Ned Davis Research about multi-asset portfolios, asset allocation, the rules of research and the inevitability of making mistakes. Ned Davis Research is one of the largest independent institutional investment research provide...