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Research

The power of knowledge management

Funds management is often discussed in the context of it being part art and part science, however most of the literature centres around the science, the finance, of funds management. The premise of active management is that skills and knowledge are paramount to capturing excess returns above the benchmark. But despite this premise, little is […]
Amanda WhiteAugust 19, 2015
Investment Think Tanks

What would Keynes do?

What would Keynes’ do? Delegates at a London investment think-tank discussed this question with Cambridge University’s David Chambers. Keynes started managing the Kings College, Cambridge endowment after World War I and analysis of his investing style reveals some interesting annotations for investors today. John Maynard Keynes was not just an economist – he was a […]
Amanda WhiteMarch 11, 2015
Research

The predictive power of portfolio characteristics

Investors still rely, to a great extent, on past performance to assess managers’ future performance. Rather than rely on past performance outcomes to predict future results, a new paper, The predictive power of portfolio characteristics, argues that it is possible to improve the ability to predict future long-term success by identifying and measuring selected portfolio characteristics […]
Amanda WhiteFebruary 18, 2015
Uncategorised posts

Benchmark design for an active investment process

Choosing the appropriate benchmark for active managers is a common debate among institutional investors. Norges Bank Investment Management has produced a “discussion note’ on the benchmark design for an active investment process, in which it introduces a flexible modelling framework that aims to incentivise each portfolio manager to utilise their stock-picking skill.   The benchmark […]
Amanda WhiteNovember 28, 2014
Investor Profile

AP4 positioned for success

A strong belief in active management, trust in the skills and capabilities of its team, and a low-cost commercial approach has resulted in the Swedish AP4 producing its best ever performance – 16.4 per cent after expenses in 2013. Amanda White spoke to chief executive, Mats Andersson. It’s a neat story for the SEK260 billion […]
Amanda WhiteJuly 16, 2014
Research

Scale and skill in active management

This paper by the Becker Friedman Institute for Research in Economics at the University of Chicago finds that the active management industry has become more skilled over time. But despite this rise in skill, average fund performance has failed to improve. To access the paper click below Scale and skill in active management  
Amanda WhiteMay 21, 2014
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