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The Fed is signalling it will use monetary policy to choke off inflation, with huge implications for advisers. How can they adapt portfolios after a decade of cheap money, what geographical regions are ahead of the tightening curve and how do ESG considerations operate in the current environment? Our experts weigh in.
What’s hot (and what’s not)
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CIO of International Wealth Management and Head of Discretionary Portfolio Management, Nomura
Gareth Nicholson
7th March, 2pm local
Gareth Nicholson joined Nomura in July 2021 as Chief Investment Officerand Head of Discretionary Portfolio Management for International Wealth Management. He is based in Singapore.
Garethworks closely with Nomura’s Global Markets and Investment Banking businesses to expand the firm’s product offerings and spearhead a streamlined, solutions-driven coverage effort for high-net-worth clients, external asset managers and family offices. With a strong institutional investment background, he creates and manages DPM strategies for fixed income, equity and multi-asset portfolios, while providing risk management support.
Gareth has over 16 years of experience in financial markets. Prior to Nomura, he was Head of Fixed Income DPM at Bank of Singapore, where he was also a member of its investment committee. Before that, he was with Aberdeen Standard Investments for almost 10 years as a fixed income trader and an Asian credit portfolio manager. He began working in finance in 2004 as a derivatives specialist with Deutsche Asset Management after an early career as a mathematics teacher. Gareth holds a BSc in Financial Mathematics from the University of Johannesburg. He was born and raised in East London, South Africa
Delivering real returns when inflation is beyond 10% is challenging, to say the least. The current environment of rising rates and economic instability affects everything, from portfolio construction to key trends and outlooks for different asset classes.
Our panellists try to make sense of it all. In three sessions, we seek to find out what advisers and wealth managers need to watch out for, where they can find opportunities and how they can navigate the expanding hedge fund universe.
What’s the big idea?
What’s hot (and what’s not)
What’s the big idea?
Watch session
Advisers need to keep pace with change to maintain and enhance their business. Technology, for instance, is revamping adviser services and operating models – the question is, how? We take a look at the ramifications of digitisation on the adviser arena, asset classes off the beaten track and ways to improve client experience.
Chief Executive Officer,
Pacific Asset Management
Matthew Lamb
8th March, 2pm local
Session 2
The revival of the hedge fund
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In 2022, both equity and bond markets saw heavy sell-offs. Against this extraordinary backdrop, hedge funds turned out to be fairly resilient. What are the chances that they will continue to provide decorrelation benefits and much-needed alpha? Our panel shines a light on the strategies to focus on and how to implement them into traditional portfolios.
Executive Director, Alternative Investments, Banco Santander
Ivan H. Howard
9th March, 2pm local
Session 3
Mr. Howard is an Executive Director in Alternative Investments in Banco Santander International’s Private Banking division based in Miami, FL. Mr. Howard is responsible for sourcing, due diligence, and investment in hedge fund and liquid alternative fund managers for Santander’s offshore private banking clients. Mr. Howard joined Santander with 20 years of experience in investment management, portfolio construction, and alternative investment fund structuring. Previously Mr. Howard was an Outsourced Chief Investment Officer with Hirtle Callaghan providing portfolio construction and investment management services to endowments, foundations, and family offices. Prior to Hirtle Callaghan, Mr. Howard was Managing Director of Alternative Investments with The GreenHaven Group specializing in the creation of public and private, real estate and commodity-based investment strategies. Mr. Howard was also formerly a Director of Equity Sales and Trading with Merrill Lynch responsible for providing portfolio liquidity solutions to hedge funds and institutional clients. Mr. Howard holds a master’s degree in Polymer Science Engineering from the University of Florida and an MBA from Mercer University. Mr. Howard serves on the external advisory board for the University of Florida College of Biomedical Engineering and serves on the board of the directors of Farm Bureau Insurance of Florida.
Executive Director, Investments and Global Chief Investment Strategist, Mercer
Rich Nuzum
Rich is Executive Director, Investments and Global Chief Investment Strategist for Mercer. He works with some of Mercer’s largest, most sophisticated clients, and is accountable for Mercer’s “innovation agenda,” including the creation and development of thought leadership and related products and services across the firm.
Over the last 30+ years, Rich has provided investment advice to clients in more than 20 countries, including many of the world’s largest institutional investors. He has also led social security and other long term savings reform projects in five countries and one US state. Rich has led Mercer’s work in several projects with the World Economic Forum, including work related to transformational investment, and to the longevity economy.
Rich was President of Mercer’s Investments & Retirement business and a member of Mercer’s Executive Leadership team from 2017 to 2022. Prior to that, he led Mercer’s investment management business globally and served in various other leadership capacities while based in Tokyo, Singapore and New York, including serving as global Chief Investment Officer for Mercer’s investment management business.
Rich holds an MBA (with high honors) in analytic finance and accounting from the University of Chicago and a bachelor’s degree (with honors) in mathematical sciences and mathematical economic analysis from Rice University in Houston, Texas. Rich also did graduate work in international economics at Tokyo University. He is a CFA® charterholder and a member of the CFA Institute.
Rich has repeatedly been named to CIO magazine’s annual list of the world’s most influential investment consultants and received CIO’s 2017 Industry Innovation Award as Consultant of the Year.
Matthew was appointed Chief Executive Officer in October 2016. Prior to joining Pacific, Matthew was Managing Director and Global Head of Liquid Alternative Investment Sales at Deutsche Asset Management. From 2003-2015, Matthew worked at GAM where he was the UK and Middle East Head of Institutional and Funds distribution and Global Head of retail multi-asset sales.
Amit is a Partner and the International Head of Mercer’s Wealth Management and Not-For-Profit Business. He has over 15 years of experience at Mercer where he was initially responsible for the strategy and growth of Mercer’s OCIO business in Europe. Subsequently he was based out of Singapore where he was the Regional Business Leader for the OCIO business within the Growth markets (Asia ex. Japan, Middle East, Africa and Latin America).
Amit has over 30 years' experience within the asset management industry and, prior to joining Mercer, he was a Senior Vice President at Banco Santander Group and, a member of the investment committee and Head of the Institutional Business for their fund of hedge funds business. He was responsible for developing and establishing the institutional infrastructure globally and Head of the UK office. Prior to that he held a number of senior roles within Northern Trust, Fidelity Investments and the London Stock Exchange.
Amit graduated with an honours degree in Economics (specializing in Corporate Finance) and Biology from the University of Keele. He is an associate of the Chartered Insurance Institute and is IMC qualified. He was also regulated to provide investment services in Hong Kong and Singapore.
Head of Financial Institutions, Mercer
Amit Popat
CIO, Hedge Funds, Mercer
Dave McMillan
Dave is Mercer’s Chief Investment Officer for Hedge Funds. He chairs the firm's Hedge Fund Investment Committee and leads Mercer’s hedge fund effort globally. In addition, he is the co-portfolio manager for several funds offered by Mercer Investments, LLC, serves as an advisor for a number of larger clients with bespoke hedge fund programs, and oversees Mercer’s global discretionary hedge fund offerings.
In 1999, Mr. McMillan joined Hammond Associates, which was acquired by Mercer in 2011. He served as Director of Hedge Funds and was responsible for the creation and management of the firm's hedge fund research and consulting efforts. Mr. McMillan designed the firm's hedge fund manager due diligence and post-investment manager monitoring processes and shaped Hammond's hedge fund portfolio construction philosophy.
During his career, Mr. McMillan has constructed more than 50 multi-manager hedge fund portfolios, including customized direct programs and commingled funds. Previously, Mr. McMillan was responsible for Hammond's traditional manager research efforts. Mr. McMillan has over 25 years of experience in the financial, banking, and investment advisory industries, including nearly 20 years dedicated to hedge fund research and investing.
Mr. McMillan has been a featured speaker at various industry conferences on the subjects of manager selection, hedge fund investing and hedge fund risk monitoring. He received a BS/BA degree in Finance from The Ohio State University and holds the CFA designation. Mr. McMillan is a member of the CFA Institute.
Déjà ‘new’:
Same old, different new
Session 1
Additional material
Themes and opportunties in 2023
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Senior Financial Advisor,
Bank Cramer
Larissa Ruch
Graduated from the Geneva University in Economics in 1997, Larissa holds a Master in Business and Finance from the HEC Lausanne (2001). She began her career approaching Emerging Markets equities at Capital International in 1997, following her master at HEC Lausanne she worked at Union Bancaire Privée with institutional clients specializing in the Hedge Funds due diligence. Following a world tour, she became in 2004 Head of fund research and Emerging Markets funds co-manager at Bordier & Cie, Private Bank. She completed the FAME from HEC Executive MBA and CAIA certificates in 2007. In 2014 she completed a Master in Arts from the HEM Geneva, and worked in Private Equity and as a Financial Advisor at Fintrust SA. Currently she is Senior Financial Advisor at Bank Cramer.
Economic and market outlook for 2023
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Top considerations for financial intermediaries 2023
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2022 Wealth Management Investment Survey
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Additional material
Top considerations for alternatives 2023
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The hedge fund renaissance Yield point blog
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Head of Manager Research,
Asia Pacific region, Mercer
Simon Coxeter
Based in Singapore, Simon is Head of Manager Research for the Asia Pacific region, working with internal and external stakeholders to ensure that Mercer’s manager research capabilities continue to fulfil an increasingly complex spectrum of client needs. Before taking up his current role in 2022, Simon was Director of Strategic Research for AMEA and Latin America, and he continues to contribute to Mercer’s strategic research. Additionally, Simon has performed advisory engagements across a diverse range of investment-related areas, including portfolio construction, manager selection, governance, and alternatives. Simon is a voting member of Mercer’s Global Asset Allocation Committee.
Having first joined Mercer in 2010, Simon returned to the company in 2017 after a period as Head of Investment Solutions in Asia for Franklin Templeton Investments. Before joining Mercer, Simon was Managing Director in a Swiss-headquartered private equity firm. Previously, he co-founded AsiaSource Capital, a boutique alternatives firm based in Singapore and New York, where he managed a fund of hedge funds. Earlier in his career, Simon worked in Hong Kong as a sell-side Equity Analyst at Cazenove. His first professional role was as a Global Equity Analyst at Prudential M&G in London. Simon holds a Bachelor’s degree in Chinese studies from the University of Oxford, an MBA from the HKUST Business School in Hong Kong, and he is a CFA® charterholder.
Partner, Portfolio Manager, Evercore Wealth Management
Stephanie Hackett
Stephanie is a Partner and Portfolio Manager at Evercore Wealth Management. She is a member of the firm's External Manager Selection Committee, which is responsible for the selection, due diligence and ongoing monitoring of all third-party investment managers. She is primarily responsible for research and due diligence on illiquid investments, encompassing private equity, real estate and credit.
Stephanie joined Evercore in 2014 from Brandywine Group Advisors, a multifamily office, where she worked for eight years as an investment director, responsible for all aspects of the investment process. She previously worked at J.P. Morgan for seven years, focused on alternative asset management and private banking. She has significant experience in managing portfolios for high net worth individuals and families that invest in both alternative and traditional asset classes, including public equity, fixed income, hedge funds and private equity strategies.
She received her B.A. from the University of Colorado and her M.B.A. from Rice University's Jones Graduate School of Business. Stephanie holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation.
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Opinions expressed are those of the speakers based on market conditions as of the date of recording, are subject to change without notice and do not necessarily reflect Mercer’s opinions.
This content is for institutional investors and information purposes only. It does not contain investment, financial, legal, tax or any other advice and should not be relied upon for this purpose. The materials are not tailored to your particular personal and/or financial position. If you require advice based on your specific circumstances, you should contact a professional adviser.
This does not constitute an offer or a solicitation of an offer to buy or sell securities, commodities and/or any other financial instruments or products or constitute a solicitation on behalf of any of the investment managers, their affiliates. For the avoidance of doubt, this is not formal investment advice to allow any party to transact. Additional advice will be required in advance of entering into any contract.
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To go beyond understanding ESG impacts – positive and negative - and invest with intention for positive outcomes, you need impact investing. Simply put, impact investing starts where ESG ends. And we believe where impact investing gets really exciting is within private markets.
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Register now for our webinar with Mercer on the 8th and 9th March at 2pm local times
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