With higher market volatility and greater focus on fundamentals as a result of the withdrawal of central banks’ support, it’s become increasingly important for active manager PIMCO to help clients and investors navigate through these pivot points.
In particular, protecting capital and delivering better risk-adjusted returns against benchmarks is key, according to PIMCO Australia and New Zealand executive vice president Adrian Stewart.
“We strive to ensure that clients and investors understand the value and benefits of core fixed income offerings as a defensive asset,” Stewart says.
“The success of the PIMCO fixed income offerings lies in our ability to mitigate downside risks through good and bad market cycles, and target opportunities in an actively managed, high-quality and diversified approach.
“We see clients investing in our global bond, Australian bond, credit-oriented and dedicated income portfolios to form part of their defensive allocations. We are glad to be able to deliver consistent strong performances over years and help investors reaching for their long-term goals.”
He acknowledges the past 12 months have proven to be a challenging time for investors, characterised by unexpected outcomes, geopolitical events and central bank policy announcements.
“Despite this, PIMCO’s Australian fund has been able to navigate these challenges, outperform benchmarks and peers, and placed clients in a stronger position to take advantage of market opportunities,” he says, adding a big part of being able to achieve this has been the firm’s time-tested and disciplined investment process, which has remained true to label.
Stewart attributes PIMCO’s win to its collaborative team approach, supported with disciplined portfolio and risk management.
“At PIMCO, we fully leverage on the firm’s deep global resources in research and investment analysis, rigorous portfolio and risk management capabilities and PIMCO’s unique investment process,” he explains.
“In particular, an area of focus that has allowed us to set ourselves apart from competitors has been our risk management process and dedication to constructing carefully diversified portfolios that aren’t overexposed to single sectors or certain events.
“For example, taking a truly multi-sector approach to investing for income has been greatly beneficial for clients who can often be exposed to allocations that are concentrated to certain sectors of the investment universe.”
PIMCO was the recipient of the same award in 2016 and 2015.
“We are very pleased and honoured in receiving this accolade for three consecutive years – this recognition well underscores our capability in navigating different market cycles and delivering strong and consistent performance over years, and our commitment in striving for excellence when it comes to servicing our clients and investors,” Stewart says.
“These attributes are an integral part of PIMCO’s DNA.
“We pride ourselves on providing an industry-leading client experience and are committed to continue to be the investment solution provider of choice in the fixed income space for our Australian and New Zealand clients and investors.”
He says throughout the organisation’s four decades of investment expertise, it continues to evolve as a provider of investment solutions across all asset classes.
“While PIMCO core fixed income offerings continue to form the anchor of many of our clients’ defensive allocations, we are also seeing a growing need among investors in seeking alpha returns,” he notes.
“As such, we are expanding our dialogues with clients into alternatives solutions to help them meet this return goal. Nevertheless, one thing that has not changed is our commitment in offering the highest-quality investment management services and strategies that satisfy our clients’ objectives in achieving strong absolute return.”
