CH 17: Investment management Flashcards
Active investment management
3
- Active management is where the manager has few restrictions on the choice of investments, perhaps just a broad benchmark of asset classes.
- This enables the manager to make judgements as to the future performance of individual investments, in both the long term and the short term. Seek out mispriced assets
- Active management may be expected to produce greater returns (unless the market is efficient) but it carries greater risk and involves extra dealing costs.
Passive investment management
2
- Passive management is the holding of assets that closely reflect those underlying a certain index or specific benchmark. The manager therefore has little freedom to choose investments.
- Passive management is not risk-free as the index may perform badly or there may be tracking errors.
List 6 factors to consider before making a tactical asset switch
1,6
- ST switching of assetsto achieve higher returns
Factors to consider:
1. The expected extra returns relative to the extra risk taken.
2. Constraints on the changes that can be made to the portfolio, e.g. due to regulation
3. The expenses of making the switch, e.g. dealing expenses
4. The problems of switching a large portfolio of assets, e.g. price shifting
5. Tax implications
6. The difficulty of carrying out the switch at a good time.
The ability to absorb the extra risk is also relevant.
Define the term ‘risk budgeting’
1,2,1
- The term risk budgeting refers to the process of establishing how much risk should be taken and where it is the most efficient to take the risk (in order to maximize return)
The investment risk budgeting process has two parts:
1. allocation of the maximum permitted overall risk between active risk and strategic risk
2. allocating the total active risk budget across the component portfolios
- Risk budgeting is, therefore, an investment style where asset allocations are based on an asset’s risk contribution to the portfolio as well as on the asset’s expected return.
Objectives of an investment fund
2,3
- Ensure security: Meet benchmark and liabilities
- High LT returns: move away from benchmark to achieve higher returns
How does fund meet objectives:
* Spend risk budget to get returns
* Asset mix established: Strategic is benchmark taking inot account Nature Liab
* Establish level of risk that can be taken in relation to benchmark
Conflicting Objectives
Strategic risk
1
- The risk of underperformance if the active allocation rather than strategic benchmark does not match the liabilities.
Structural risk
1
- The risk of underperformance if the sum of the individual benchmarks given to fund managers does not add up to the strategic benchmark
Active risk
2
- The risk of underperformance if the fund managers do not invest exactly in line with the individual strategic benchmarks as they are given.
- Overall port risk = Active+Strategic+Structural
What are the key determinants deciding how much:
- strategic risk
- active risk to take?
1,1
- The key question on strategic risk is the risk tolerance of the stakeholders in the fund. This is the systematic risk they are prepared to take on in the attempt to increase long term returns.
- The key questions on active risk is whether it is believed that active management generates positive excess returns.
Give 3 reasons why a provider’s investment strategy should be regularly monitored
3
- Liabilities change over time
- The funding level of a scheme or free asset position of a company changes over time, affecting the level of matching required
- Monitoring helps identify whether the fund manager’s performance is in line with that of other funds.
Outline the way funds should be compared
3
- An investment fund should only be compared against similar funds with similar objectives and restrictions on the manager, not the generality of funds
- One of the best comparisons to use is the return that would have been achieved by an index fund, which had maintained the benchmark asset allocation proportions
- It is important to note any other constraints on the manager, e.g. a shortage of cashflow or the timing of cash inflows and disinvestments
Define 2 measures of active risk
Tactical asset allocation risk
- Historic (or backward-looking) tracking error, i.e. annualized standard deviation of difference between actual and benchmark returns
- Forward-looking tracking error, i.e. estimated standard deviation of relative returns if the current portfolio was unaltered
List other investment risks, outlining how each might be measured
3
- Strategic asset allocation risk - measured using forward or backward looking tracking error approaches, comparing strategic allocation with target (liability-matched) allocation.
- Duration risk- Risk of deviating from startegic matching duration. measured using forward or backward looking tracking error approaches
- Counterparty, interest rate and equity market risk - measured as the amount of capital that has to be held against that particular risk, possibly relative to that required for a target portfolio.
Allowance should be made for the benefits of diversification across risks.
Comparative measure of investment performance
2,2
- Input all cashflows into and out of the fund to a spreadsheet that also holds the daily values of the benchmark (calc daily and avail).
- Calculate the value of the fund over a chosen period on the basis that it had been invested in the benchmark rather than in the actual assets held, and compare this with the actual fund value achieved.
Care needs to be taken in relation to:
* If benchmark includes income reinvested. excl div+interest as CF
* Benchmark is capital gain only. incl div+interest as CF
A decision is needed on how frequently performance is monitored.
An analysis of reasons for the difference in fund value could be sought from the manager.
List two methods of measuring the rate of return on an investment portfolio
2
- Money weighted rate of return (MWRR)
- Time weighted rate of return (TWRR)
