Data Centre: Asset owners pursue portfolio complexity
In the summer of 2018 investment consultant bfinance asked global institutional investors how they are investing, and how this is likely to change.
The survey responses underscored the fact that these asset owners have been adding increasing numbers of asset classes into their portfolios, with many adding investment staff to help handle the increased diversity and complexity. The growth of interest was particularly marked around asset classes such as private debt, infrastructure, real estate and emerging market equity.
Some asset owners said this has caused fees to increase, but a larger number reported their overall asset allocation costs were falling, courtesy of more aggressive negotiating and the rise of cheaper passive products.
These trends are being witnessed in the Asia Pacific region too, as more asset owners add various alternative asset classes into their investment portfolios, or integrate forms of multi-asset and fact-based investment strategies. They hope this rising diversity will help them better ride out increasingly volatile times.
Please click here to look at some key statistics from the survey.