L&G Asset Management

Benchmarks remain a vital tool for active fixed income investors, but they were never meant to be the final destination. As market dynamics become more complex and investor priorities evolve, allocators are increasingly adopting a total portfolio approach (TPA), focusing more on whether portfolios are delivering the outcomes that matter most to investors. By L&G's Alex Mack, Head of Rates and Inflation; Ian Hutchinson, Head of Global Bond Strategies - Benchmark; and Radha Mathur…

Global credit has reset – but the playbook has changed. Alpha will no longer come from simply accessing spread, but from integrating credit, rates and regional insights to navigate a more fragmented market, says Ian Hutchinson, Head of Global Bond Strategies – Benchmark, L&G.

Investors can no longer overlook the performance and influence of emerging markets (EM) in the global economy. After delivering robust returns in 2025 despite global volatility, selective parts of the EM debt universe deserve a bigger role in global allocations, say L&G’s Ben Bennett, head of investment strategy for Asia, and Uday Patnaik, head of Asia fixed income and global EM debt.

In a fluctuating and, frankly, precarious US macro environment, investors are rethinking where in the fixed income landscape to allocate. With diversification essential, we believe US securitised assets and subordinated bank debt offer key opportunities for asset allocators in Asia, say L&G’s Ben Bennett, head of investment strategy for Asia, and Jason Shoup, global co-head of fixed income.

There is growing potential for European credit to play an increasingly important part of global fixed income portfolios, as resilient corporate fundamentals, attractive yields and supportive policy underpin valuations. L&G’s Ben Bennett, head of investment strategy for Asia, and Marc Rovers, head of European credit, explore how investors in Asia and globally seek to selectively capture diversified income opportunities in the region.

With the US economy exhibiting higher inflation and interest rates, dynamic duration management is a powerful – and essential – tool for global bond portfolios, according to L&Gs Ben Bennett, head of investment strategy for Asia, and Ian Hutchinson, head of global bond strategies.

For structural and cyclical reasons ranging from yield to long duration cashflows to diversification to capital efficiency, investment grade (IG) private credit should be increasingly appealing to insurance portfolios in Asia, says James Hayes, head of the insurance client team for L&G Asset Management.