SYZ Asset Management, the institutional management division of the SYZ Group, is adding two new multi-asset strategies to its range – Active Allocation and Risk-Based Allocation.
SYZ Asset Management has successfully offered multi-asset investment solutions to institutional investors for over 15 years, including an Active Allocation strategy since 1999 and the well-established Absolute Return strategy since 2003, both known for their active allocation style based on in-depth analysis of the macro-economic framework.
Recent arrivals in 2015 have brought new skills to SYZ Asset Management, which now offers a comprehensive range of Multi-Asset products. Hartwig Kos, Co-Head of the Multi-Asset team and Vice-CIO, has contributed in expanding research to cover new markets, currencies and asset classes. Using proprietary models, the two managers Guido Bolliger and Claude Cornioley have brought expertise in dynamic portfolio coverage as well as risk-based portfolio construction thanks to their recognised quantitative investment approach.
The addition of these skills has made it possible to add two new strategies to the existing range. Hartwig Kos, building on his experience of managing a multi-asset fund at Baring Asset Management, took over management of the Active Allocation strategy from 1 January, in collaboration with Fabrizio Quirighetti, Co-Head of the Multi-Asset team and CIO By adopting a dynamic capital allocation approach, he is targeting a similar performance to stock markets, but with less risk. Guido Bolliger and Claude Cornioley, two managers who bring strong quantitative skills, particularly at Dynagest, Olympia Capital and Julius Baer, lead the Risk-Based Allocation strategy. This strategy has a target of two-thirds of the performance of certain specified stock markets, with an aim of achieving this with one third of the corresponding risk. These two complementary approaches join the Absolute Return strategy, which aims to protect capital while offering a comparable risk-return profile to bond investments.
In the United Kingdom, SYZ Asset Management offers two UK-registered funds: OYSTER Absolute Return GBP and OYSTER Multi-Asset Absolute Return EUR.
All these multi-asset strategies share the benefits of a common and formalised three-leg investment process that has been developed and refined over 15 years: Economic Cycle Analysis, a detailed and standardised macro-economic analysis of the leading global economies, Asset Valuation Analysis, focussed on asset class valuations and the Investment Strategy Group, which ranks investment preferences based on the first two analyses. This shared investment process drives asset allocations in the various funds according to their specific objectives and risk profiles.
"I am delighted with the developments in SYZ Asset Management's Multi-Asset team. The expansion in asset classes covered addresses timing and asset allocation issues in an economic context of historically low rates, greater market volatility and less stable correlations between assets," says Fabrizio Quirighetti, Chief Investment Officer at SYZ Asset Management.
