• What role does a Swiss origin manager like Swisscanto in the national fund industry want to play?
Swisscanto is the second manager and the second largest bank in Switzerland. It belongs to the Zürcher Kantonalbank Group, which is a state bank with great solvency, not only of credit but also support us the 150 years of experience we have. We are a bank with a formidable track.
At assets we manage 312,000 million euros for variable income, fixed income and multi -active, which are the strategies that we will bring to Spain that are those that fit with the risk profile of investors.
In fixed income we have very active solutions in credit. There I would highlight strategies in coconuts, hybrids, high yield and emerging markets. We make global credit and global credit in article 8 and 9 and we also have monetary.
In Variable Income we have global solutions, both in Global Equity and in Global Emerging Markets Equities, and there we have a fund with more than 28 years of Record Track and 2000 million under management. They are sustainable funds and from there we have resulted in the range of themes in water, climate change, circular economy, digital economy and longevity and health that is a very present issue and with an important attraction.
And we close the circle with the multi -active ones, where we have another of our star funds that fits all kinds of strategy of our WHOLEAL AND PROFESSIONAL CLIENTS. There we have 2300 million under management, more than 21 years of Record Track and it is a fund article 9 that peer group level competes with the best. These are strategies that mark the bank’s strategy and the vision of the manager’s CIO, so when we talk about the market, it replicates in this type of solutions.
• What motivated the manager to make the leap to the Spanish market? What are the objectives?
We come to Spain with the idea of contributing the accumulated experience we have. We have been in financial experience and asset management for more than 150 years. The time has come to leave Switzerland and bring these solutions and market vision with active management in products that fit the Spanish investor very well, who are usually customers who have 60-65% for fixed income.
That’s where we have strategies that compete very well and fit in this moment of market in which the investor, before the decrease of types, is entering some more credit. We also have interesting solutions in coconuts, hybrids, High Yield …
With exposure to emerging market actions, the thematic part where we can have a sustainable approach and active management is complemented, where we have been able to generate returns, both absolute and relative, very competitive. With this we can say that it can be managed in a sustainable way and at the same time generate very positive results for investors. This customer experience and fedback has made us consider that our offer has enough value to be presented to investors in Spain.
• What is your current vision of markets in an environment marked by political uncertainty?
We have had movements for variable income and fixed income that we had not observed in a long time. We have had rotations at the Asset Allocation level, we have reduced exposure to variable income. Yes, we think that the entire movement of rates and interest rates may have some impact on the valuations or results of the companies, and hence the focus returns to fixed income. In fact, we have seen market flows to this area. In fixed income there are acceptable pulls and the rise we have seen during the month makes that kind of assets an interesting part to take into account in the coming months.
In Variable Income we have reduced exposure to the United States more in the Midcaps part and we try to be more defensive in health, which is a good sector now, while technological or consumption have higher assessments.
Globally, emerging markets have more attractive assessments, lower inflation and our calls is one in our Asset Allocation and the United Kingdom. In currencies, we are somewhat more cautious in dollars and we would go to Yen or Dollar Australians who are more defensive and with better fundamental and technical.
• Are you seeing a change in investors behavior in the face of increased volatility?
I look a lot at the flows in funds that is something that tells me a lot the direction to which the markets go. We start cautious, but constructive and we have seen important flows. That rise of types of suddenly what it has done is that there is a flow that has returned to fixed income, the ETFs are more volatile at this time because it helps in the Building Blocks of a portfolio to move more quickly. But what we have observed has been in the variable income part where we have seen more changes, fixed income and more alternative values such as gold or comodians. In gold we have seen tickets not only in prices but in flows