HSBC announced this week the launch of a new Ucits-compliant fund – the HSBC GIF Global Inflation Linked Bond fund – through a Lux-domiciled SICAV. With initial capital of USD30 million, it joins the bank’s stable of inflation linked bond funds. Although the Global Investment Fund (GIF) range is relatively new, the bank has a long track record in the ILB asset class, currently managing more than USD2.7 billion. HSBC Global Asset Management’s quant-based fixed income team, under the stewardship of Jean-Charles Bertrand, CIO Quantitative Strategies, will manage the new fund. Strategically, it will invest in a diversified portfolio of inflation-linked bonds issued by the likes of Australia, US, UK, Canada, Sweden, Japan and certain Eurozone countries. Bertrand was quoted in the bank’s press release as saying: “Inflation linked bonds provide the most effective hedge against inflation when compared to other asset classes, including real estate and commodities, as they are the only asset class whose return is directly adjusted to the realised rate of inflation.”