Executive Exchange: 12 questions with Natasha Mora
NAME: Natasha Mora
TITLE: Managing Director, Asia
COMPANY: Legal & General Investment Management
Natasha Mora is managing director for Asia at Legal & General Investment Management (LGIM). Based in Australia, she has worked in senior roles across L&G and LGIM since she joined the group in 2006.
LGIM launched in Asia Pacific in 2013 and offers indexing, multi-asset and active fixed income products to institutional investors in the region.
It is one of Europe’s largest asset managers, with about $1.4 trillion in assets under management.
In this easy-going Q&A, Mora talks about her pick of a movie franchise investment, what the stock market 'sounds like' and the personal qualities that have contributed to her career success.
If you could invest in the success of any movie franchise, which would it be and why?
It would definitely be Star Wars.
Apart from being a massive favourite in our family, it would have been an amazing investment to have made in the late 1970s/early 1980s when the original three movies came out.
Forty odd years later with three prequels, a relaunch of the three originals, three sequels and multiple spin offs such as the Mandalorian, I’m sure my investment would be comfortably supporting me in retirement by now!
Can you describe a time when you had to handle a major financial crisis?
I was working in London during the 2008 financial crisis, which of course was a significant period of stress for all companies.
I was working as an in-house corporate lawyer at that time and was privileged to be part of the team supporting the board of a company.
An essential part of the role was to ensure key decision makers had up to date and fulsome information they needed to make their decisions.
It was a formative experience and I learnt a lot – particularly how important great communication and quality information is in a time of crisis. Also, how strong collaboration and teamwork can make such a difference to achieving the end goal and quickly.
How do you balance investor demands with sustainable investment practices?
The term ‘balance’ implies there may be conflict between investor demands and sustainable investment practices, in that you cannot satisfy both at the same time.
I don’t see these two things as mutually exclusive.
At Legal & General, we see a direct link between delivering the investment outcomes that our clients expect from us and sustainable investment practices because sustainability factors are financially material and impact long term financial outcomes for investors.
Our clients expect us to integrate sustainability considerations into the investment process to ensure we are considering downside risks as well as return opportunities.
How do you prepare for long-term uncertainties in the market?
We think about this question in the context of our own business as well as for our clients. The same guiding principles apply in both contexts.
We don’t try to predict what will happen; instead, we prepare and focus on the possible scenarios and the impacts of these to plan potential courses of action.
We are thoughtful and analytical around decisions and take time to consider how a decision could play out over different scenarios.
Our aim is to have a sustainable business over the long term; Legal & General is over 188 years old and our approach to navigating short term and long term uncertainties is to ensure we are here for our clients for another 188 years and beyond.
If the stock market had a theme song, what would it be?
I’d have to say a song from Queen – truly one of the greatest rock bands ever.
It is too hard to choose just one song though – there really could be a Queen song for any given day.
‘Another one bites the dust’, ‘Under pressure’, ‘I want it all’, ‘We are the champions’….I think I would go with a Queen greatest hits mix!
Beyond the numbers, what personal quality do you believe has contributed most to your success?
I think it has been about being prepared to turn my hand to whatever comes my way.
I try to approach everything – even what looks to be the most humdrum of tasks – as an opportunity to either learn something or make a contribution.
Being open to anything and getting involved at all levels has often meant new or better connections with colleagues and has also led to opportunities for me to play a part in new and different initiatives.
Can you discuss a time when your professional network significantly impacted your business decisions?
I can’t really pinpoint a specific time but there is no doubt that engagement with peers – both directly in the asset management industry and more generally across the financial services sector – plays a role in my day-to-day business decision making.
Learning about others’ experiences; how they have approached different business decisions or challenges; what has worked or not worked; talking through the different demands that come with our roles – these experiences, perspectives and insights of others all form part of the vault of information I draw upon directly or indirectly when making business decisions.
If a movie was made about your life as an investment executive, who would you want to play you and why?
There have been fantastic films produced on the investment industry, so not sure where a movie about my life would rank.
I’d love to say Samuel L Jackson because he is so sophisticated and has such charisma.
I think the reality would probably be closer to Anne Hathaway in The Devil Wears Prada or Renee Zellweger in Bridget Jones Diary with storylines of unshakeable commitment to family, friends and colleagues, ambitious careers, occasional mayhem and resolutions of “must do better”!
What is the most important leadership lesson you've learned while leading your organisation?
I’ve had to learn to create more routes to empowerment and accountability by putting trust in others and their good judgment to work out where it makes sense to get involved and where to step back.
The transition into senior leadership and stepping back from the day to day ‘doing’ was not an easy one for me and my team would probably say it remains a work in progress!
It was a prior boss who pointed out to me some years’ back that the sign of a good leader is that they have built a great team around them and they let them get on with what they are good at.
What advice would you give to someone just starting their career in asset management?
Be curious. Always ask questions and learn as much as you can.
Find time to meet people – apart from making new and interesting connections for your network, you can learn so much by hearing about others’ experiences, challenges and successes and what they have learnt along the way.
What is one decision you made that you would change if you could go back in time?
When I was in my early twenties, fresh faced out of university, I was super eager to get straight into the workplace and start building my professional career.
I dived in straight away after my studies but I realise now (with hindsight) that there was no hurry especially as most people’s careers, including my own, will probably stretch to 40 or 50 years!
I wish I had taken a gap year (or two), spent time travelling and seeing the world before starting on the professional career path.
What innovation in asset management are you most excited about right now?
The innovation in private markets is really exciting and especially the opening of access for new types of investors to the long-term growth and diversification potential of private assets.
As an example, this year, Legal & General launched a private markets access strategy, opening up private markets investment for UK defined contribution pension savers and unlocking long term pensions savings to help drive growth in the real economy.