L&G Talks Asset Management

 
Investors have embraced the world of index-tracking products on the back of comparatively low headline costs and the broad market exposures on offer. But the rise of alternatively constructed indexes, thematic ETFs and the client demand for more inclusion of responsible investment principles into their index funds has prompted a dramatic change in the investment landscape.

Simon joins us this week to shine a light on the often weird and wonderful world of ETFs and other index funds and where investors are looking to incorporate these portfolio building blocks.

Simon Hynes, Head of Retail Distribution, EMEA

We want to hear from you! Email us at [email protected] with your thoughts on the podcast and any suggestions of the types of content you’d like to see covered.

This podcast is intended for investment professionals, and shouldn’t be shared with a non-professional audience. This podcast should not be taken as an invitation to deal in Legal & General investments. Any views expressed during this recording belong to the individuals and are based on market conditions at the time of recording, and do not reflect the views of Legal & General Investment Management. Legal & General Investment Management is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Legal & General Investment Management, One Coleman Street, London, EC2R 5AA. Register in England no. 2091894. All rights reserved. No part of this audio may be reproduced in whole or in part without the prior written consent of Legal & General Investment Management.

It’s fair to say that growing up in South Africa helped shape Anton Eser into the Chief Investment Officer he is today. Having lived “in one of the emerging markets” through a tumultuous period in that country’s history, he learned that the perspectives on notions of risk and change are very different when compared to other parts of the world. A chance meeting between him, his younger sister and Nelson Mandela had a profound impact as he would come to develop a deep fascination in economics, world politics and behavioural biases – the latter holding clear parallels with managing both his team and funds in his subsequent career.

His journey to the role of CIO came by way of fixed income, believing that understanding the credit cycle and liquidity are some of the most important things required to inform a comprehensive macro view. In his view, the key trends for the future of investment management are the continuing transformation brought about by technology, the move from performance benchmarks to client outcomes and the increased client demands for sustainability objectives.

Today’s guest: Anton Eser, Chief Investment Officer

We want to hear from you! Email us at [email protected] with your thoughts on the podcast and any suggestions of the types of content you’d like to see covered.

This podcast is intended for investment professionals, and shouldn’t be shared with a non-professional audience. This podcast should not be taken as an invitation to deal in Legal & General investments. Any views expressed during this recording belong to the individuals and are based on market conditions at the time of recording, and do not reflect the views of Legal & General Investment Management. Legal & General Investment Management is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Legal & General Investment Management, One Coleman Street, London, EC2R 5AA. Register in England no. 2091894. All rights reserved. No part of this audio may be reproduced in whole or in part without the prior written consent of Legal & General Investment Management.

Property: The wellbeing investment opportunity

We’ve all been in meeting rooms where the air has become so stuffy that there’s very little chance of good ideas emerging. Similarly, sitting nearer to a window has been shown to improve employees’ health, energy and performance. We might not often connect real asset investment to health and wellbeing but major trends are bringing it into the mainstream.

A societal shift in exercise habits has led to the UK becoming the most overweight of Western European nations and yet has one of the fastest growing gym markets. By tapping into this change in consumer behaviour through our real estate investments, we can put greater emphasis on wellbeing through our retail and leisure holdings.

In this episode, we connect the opportunities for increased focus on health and wellbeing in both our professional and personal lives and how both can be beneficial for long-term investors.

Matt Soffair, Research Manager, Real Assets
Bill Page, Business Space Research Manager, Real Assets

Read Matt’s recent blog on the UK’s growing gym market:

https://futureworldblog.lgim.com/categories/themes/working-out-the-uks-obesity-crisis-20/?cid=lgimtalks 

We want to hear from you! Email us at [email protected] with your thoughts on the podcast and any suggestions of the types of content you’d like to see covered.

This podcast is intended for investment professionals, and shouldn’t be shared with a non-professional audience. This podcast should not be taken as an invitation to deal in Legal & General investments. Any views expressed during this recording belong to the individuals and are based on market conditions at the time of recording, and do not reflect the views of Legal & General Investment Management. Legal & General Investment Management is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Legal & General Investment Management, One Coleman Street, London, EC2R 5AA. Register in England no. 2091894. All rights reserved. No part of this audio may be reproduced in whole or in part without the prior written consent of Legal & General Investment Management.

 
The green elephant in the room: there’s a lot of conversation in the market about investing responsibly – including integrating environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors – but there’s also a lot of confusion. For many investors it’s often seen in quite binary terms, everything or nothing!

Part of the fact is that it’s not easy to pin down a specific definition. From ethical to impact to ESG considerations, Meryam discusses the broad spectrum of responsible investing and how we might be able to understand the many different shades of green.

Meryam Omi, Head of Sustainability and Responsible Investment Strategy
Simon Chinnery, Head of DC Client Solutions

Read Meryam’s most recent article on why now is the time to talk climate solutions here:

https://futureworldblog.lgim.com/categories/themes/now-is-the-time-to-talk-climate-solutions/?cid=lgimtalks 

We want to hear from you! Email us at [email protected] with your thoughts on the podcast and any suggestions of the types of content you’d like to see covered.

This podcast is intended for investment professionals, and shouldn’t be shared with a non-professional audience. This podcast should not be taken as an invitation to deal in Legal & General investments. Any views expressed during this recording belong to the individuals and are based on market conditions at the time of recording, and do not reflect the views of Legal & General Investment Management. Legal & General Investment Management is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Legal & General Investment Management, One Coleman Street, London, EC2R 5AA. Register in England no. 2091894. All rights reserved. No part of this audio may be reproduced in whole or in part without the prior written consent of Legal & General Investment Management.

Behind every role, there’s a story. We’re exploring the lives and careers of people across LGIM to understand more about what brought them to asset management, the changes they expect to see in the investment industry and – if they had to pick anything else – what their dream job would be.

If you’ve listened to any of our Defined Contribution focused episodes, you will have heard Simon’s voice. Through his self-professed middle-man role, he always seems to know just the right question to ask to get to the middle of a particularly thorny DC topic, making him a perfect subject for this series. What I had no idea about was that outside of his role, Simon writes poetry and paints – although he sees his father as having been the proper ‘grown-up artist’!

Despite having trained as a ballerina, his entrance to finance was via the stock exchange as a Blue Button. The real appeal, however, was the relationships and understanding the individual needs of clients. The future for the world of DC, in his view, is a partnership approach and the development of more intelligent communications. After all, there’s little point inundating members at the very beginning of their pension journey with retirement options!

Today’s guest: Simon Chinnery, Head DC Client Solutions

We want to hear from you! Email us at [email protected] with your thoughts on the podcast and any suggestions of the types of content you’d like to see covered.

This podcast is intended for investment professionals, and shouldn’t be shared with a non-professional audience. This podcast should not be taken as an invitation to deal in Legal & General investments. Any views expressed during this recording belong to the individuals and are based on market conditions at the time of recording, and do not reflect the views of Legal & General Investment Management. Legal & General Investment Management is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Legal & General Investment Management, One Coleman Street, London, EC2R 5AA. Register in England no. 2091894. All rights reserved. No part of this audio may be reproduced in whole or in part without the prior written consent of Legal & General Investment Management.

 
The need for cybersecurity permeates all levels of society with high-profile data breaches wiping hundreds of millions of dollars off of company valuations. The threat of highly damaging attacks means that security spending will likely increase further to record levels. Aanand joins us to discuss the ever-increasing demand for cybersecurity services and the thematic opportunity for investors in this sector.

Aanand Venkatramanan, Head of ETF Investment Strategies
Miriam Breen, Account Manager

Read Aanand’s latest article on cybersecurity here:

http://www2.landginvestments.com/l/26932/2019-02-06/6v65mc/26932/105900/Accessingthecyberopportunity050219.pdf/?cid=lgimtalks 

We want to hear from you! Email us at [email protected] with your thoughts on the podcast and any suggestions of the types of content you’d like to see covered.

This podcast is intended for investment professionals, and shouldn’t be shared with a non-professional audience. This podcast should not be taken as an invitation to deal in Legal & General investments. Any views expressed during this recording belong to the individuals and are based on market conditions at the time of recording, and do not reflect the views of Legal & General Investment Management. Legal & General Investment Management is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Legal & General Investment Management, One Coleman Street, London, EC2R 5AA. Register in England no. 2091894. All rights reserved. No part of this audio may be reproduced in whole or in part without the prior written consent of Legal & General Investment Management.

Getting the mix of assets in a portfolio belonging to someone coming up to retirement is so important. There are a lot of different factors to take into account when you’re looking at a de-risking ‘journey’ including diversification as well an individual’s particular aversion to loss. With many people not even considering their retirement date until even a few years, a thoughtfully designed proposition has to allow for a considerable degree of flexibility and consider a number of realistic behavioural assumptions.

Veronica Humble, Head of DC Investment Solutions
John Southall, Head of Solutions Research
Simon Chinnery, Head of DC Client Solutions

Read some of the team’s latest writings on the subject and watch out on our Future World Blog for upcoming ‘vlogs’!

https://futureworldblog.lgim.com/categories/forum/how-much-investment-risk-should-young-dc-savers-take/?cid=lgimtalks

https://futureworldblog.lgim.com/categories/forum/loss-aversion-and-glidepath-design/?cid=lgimtalks

We want to hear from you! Email us at [email protected] with your thoughts on the podcast and any suggestions of the types of content you’d like to see covered.

This podcast is intended for investment professionals, and shouldn’t be shared with a non-professional audience. This podcast should not be taken as an invitation to deal in Legal & General investments. Any views expressed during this recording belong to the individuals and are based on market conditions at the time of recording, and do not reflect the views of Legal & General Investment Management. Legal & General Investment Management is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Legal & General Investment Management, One Coleman Street, London, EC2R 5AA. Register in England no. 2091894. All rights reserved. No part of this audio may be reproduced in whole or in part without the prior written consent of Legal & General Investment Management.

Following the release of an eye-opening UN report on climate, the time is ripe for investors to act with their own money. This week we’re checking in with Iancu and Yasmine to talk about how we’ve reached the end of the road for coal, the development of exciting new carbon-capture and renewable technologies, and how being an active owner can help accelerate the shift to the low-carbon economy.

Yasmine Svan, Sustainability Analyst, Corporate Governance
Iancu Daramus, Sustainability Analyst, Corporate Governance
Mark Chappel, Senior Investment Writer

Read Yasmine and Iancu’s latest blog posts here:

https://futureworldblog.lgim.com/categories/themes/the-end-of-the-road-for-coal/

https://futureworldblog.lgim.com/categories/themes/now-is-the-time-to-talk-climate-solutions/

We want to hear from you! Email us at [email protected] with your thoughts on the podcast and any suggestions of the types of content you’d like to see covered.

This podcast is intended for investment professionals, and shouldn’t be shared with a non-professional audience. This podcast should not be taken as an invitation to deal in Legal & General investments. Any views expressed during this recording belong to the individuals and are based on market conditions at the time of recording, and do not reflect the views of Legal & General Investment Management. Legal & General Investment Management is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Legal & General Investment Management, One Coleman Street, London, EC2R 5AA. Register in England no. 2091894. All rights reserved. No part of this audio may be reproduced in whole or in part without the prior written consent of Legal & General Investment Management.

Analogy #1: If you laid out in $1 bills the amount that has been bought by central banks over the last ten years, you would end up covering an area around five times the size of Wales.

Ahead of the European Central Bank and Federal Reserve meetings happening later this month, we invited Chris and Ben to the podcast to discuss central banks’ reversal of their quantitative easing programmes – a process also known as quantitative tightening – and the impact it’s had on markets. They talk us through the monetary policy in practice and highlight the slightly different ways the LGIM investment teams see the situation.

Ben Bennett, Head of Investment Strategy and Research
Chris Jeffery, Strategist, Asset Allocation
Mark Chappel, Senior Investment Writer

Read Chris and Ben’s latest thinking here:

http://www.lgim.com/uk/en/insights/our-thinking/

We want to hear from you! Email us at [email protected] with your thoughts on the podcast and any suggestions of the types of content you’d like to see covered.

This podcast is intended for investment professionals, and shouldn’t be shared with a non-professional audience. This podcast should not be taken as an invitation to deal in Legal & General investments. Any views expressed during this recording belong to the individuals and are based on market conditions at the time of recording, and do not reflect the views of Legal & General Investment Management. Legal & General Investment Management is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Legal & General Investment Management, One Coleman Street, London, EC2R 5AA. Register in England no. 2091894. All rights reserved. No part of this audio may be reproduced in whole or in part without the prior written consent of Legal & General Investment Management.

After a difficult few months, it's only natural for the old debates between investment styles and longevity of economic cycles to resurface. Let’s not forget, we've had a decade-long run of ‘growth’ stocks outperforming value-driven stocks, while volatile periods inevitably lead the market to question whether growth investing has had its day in the sun.

We invited Gavin and Matthew to explain the fundamentals they look for in high-quality growth stocks, from Aston Martin’s astonishing brand power to Fever-Tree’s international growth ambitions.

Gavin Launder, Senior Fund Manager
Matthew Courtnell, Equities Product Specialist
Mark Chappel, Senior Investment Writer

Read more about Gavin’s latest thinking here:

https://futureworldblog.lgim.com/authors/gavin-launder/

We want to hear from you! Email us at [email protected] with your thoughts on the podcast and any suggestions of the types of content you’d like to see covered.

This podcast is intended for investment professionals, and shouldn’t be shared with a non-professional audience. This podcast should not be taken as an invitation to deal in Legal & General investments. Any views expressed during this recording belong to the individuals and are based on market conditions at the time of recording, and do not reflect the views of Legal & General Investment Management. Legal & General Investment Management is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Legal & General Investment Management, One Coleman Street, London, EC2R 5AA. Register in England no. 2091894. All rights reserved. No part of this audio may be reproduced in whole or in part without the prior written consent of Legal & General Investment Management.