Hearing is Believing

Asset managers have historically been viewed as product peddlers who knew their stuff – but sellers of investment widgets, nonetheless. At Aberdeen Standard Investments (ASI), the team behind ASI Solutions has embraced a listen-first approach to determining the needs of institutional clients. From there, the team calls upon ASI’s global research teams and depth of resources to provide its clients with strategic advice and implementation, incorporating everything from macro and market insights, to strategic asset allocation, to environmental, social, and governance (ESG) concerns. But first, they listen. II recently caught up with ASI’sChris Demeo客户解决方案负责人，美洲，和Russell O’Brien, Senior Solution Director, Americas, for a chat about how they are working with investors today.

What were you seeing and what was happening in the market and with clients that brought about the increased focus on ASI Solutions?

克里斯德米：The solutions mindset is driven by the goals and needs of our clients, and the realities of the challenges they face. Whether it’s a pension fund that must make payments to retirees, an endowment or foundation with a particular spending policy, or an insurance company concerned about its reserve requirements and liquidity, they face challenges not only from the market, but also in the form of regulations, fiduciary requirements, complexity, costs, and reporting. As a $600 billion-plus asset manager that manages money in virtually every asset class and jurisdiction across the globe, we certainly feel as though we have the necessary holistic perspective. Through a combination of research, analytics, and implementation, we’re able to help asset owners meet their challenges.

全球能力有效解决方案有多重要？

罗素奥布莱恩：It’s becoming more common to hear from clients that they are looking for answers on a global scale and trying to find sources of help across many different outlets. You never really know what the challenge and need is until you hear it first-hand from a client. If you’re going to say you’re in the solutions business, you have to be able to solve clients’ problems holistically. With the breadth and scale of resources available at Aberdeen Standard Investments, we have that ability. For example, many clients will need a healthy allocation to private markets going forward in order to truly achieve their goals – and that’s an area of strength and expertise for our firm.

DeMeo:专注于我们的解决方案方法不是关于：这是重要的不a “give us all your money and get out of the way” approach to the marketplace. Partnering with our solutions team doesn’t mean that investors should ignore input from their other trusted advisors. We often work collaboratively with our clients’ consultants and other asset managers so that we can develop an integrated and impactful solution to their needs.

That’s not something you hear too often in the investment world.

DeMeo:它是任何一个资产经理的哈布里斯，无论多大，思考它总是可以单枪匹扣解决每个客户问题。我们认识并尊重其他资产管理人员带来能够互补的能力和专业知识，以实现客户的目标 - 这是我们所做的最终目的。此外，我们在本组织内有咨询组件，因此我们为客户提供给第三方管理者 - 特别是在替代方案中。

O’Brien:Traditionally, an asset manager was asked to implement and execute on a specific mandate that was developed and perhaps defined by another party – typically the client’s consultant or the plan’s investment committee. In a world of increasing complexity, asset owners are relying more and more on an ecosystem that incorporates a cohesiveness between their asset managers and their consultants to help navigate their investment journey. Our Solutions Team certainly embraces this collaboration. Today, there are many instances of tripartite arrangements where, for example, the consultant might be responsible for certain aspects of the overall strategy and establishing objectives, while the manager is responsible for the overall asset allocation, implementation, and execution. It’s particularly important when managing investments for pension plans to be able to speak the same language as the consultant and understand their perspective and the plan’s liability. Our proposition incorporates the stated goal and advice into the development of a solution – but through the lens of an asset manager. We feel there are some true efficiencies and benefits to having all of these activities and decisions incorporated into one solutions-focused effort. It’s a holistic pursuit, which means we look across the whole of the client’s investment and investment-governance processes, from the initial setting of beliefs and objectives to establishing a portfolio framework, designing benchmarks, setting the asset allocation, manager selection, and implementation and reporting. It’s also about transparency and alignment of interests, which encourage a more robust communication stream.

解决方案关系如何开始？

DeMeo:这是一个例子：现在，我们正在与捐赠人士要求我们根据最近的市场波动和对未来市场风险的担忧审查其资产配置。尽管股权市场恢复，但他们仍然非常关注达到2021年的支出目标，并在未来几年内有足够的流动性 - 特别是如果市场回溯。他们与我们分享了他们的整个投资组合，以及他们从目前的顾问收到的建议。我们通过详细的建议突出了与他们的目标以及市场上的宏观景观一致的解决方案。这些包括私人市场更加符合其投资时间地平线，波动性缓解策略和机会主义投资，包括基础设施。这不是改变整个投资组合的建议，而是专注于高影响力，高信念的投资策略，我们认为我们认为将有意义地提高实现成功的可能性。正如往常是这种情况，我们的建议通常与顾问的意见一致，而且还包括我们觉得我们认为我们具有相对于其他资产管理人员的独特能力和经验。我们没有做的是，最初在思想或任何先入为主的概念中掌握了特定的资产课程 - 我们倾听了他们的担忧，对他们的分析工作做了分析工作，并建议符合其目标的特定解决方案。

与客户的每一项订婚都必须在许多方面都是独一无二的，因为它开始倾听他们的具体和整体担忧和挑战。

DeMeo:That’s right. Every client has its own fingerprint. Sometimes, they’re looking for a true fiduciary solution and we can address a full portfolio solution for them, but it’s never one-size-fits-all.

O’Brien:There are many times we’ll go into a meeting and won’t have a presentation deck. It’s really about focusing on the conversation. Return is not the only driving factor of whether a pension sponsor can pay its members 30 years from now. Overly focusing on returns while ignoring risk is a recipe for disaster. The thing we believe is going to drive long-term performance is getting the right exposure to the market relative to the plan’s unique profile. It’s about enabling diversification, which includes facilitating innovation, and it’s based on effectively providing a framework that can develop new investment ideas as they come up, while also managing existing ones.

在您所做的所有聆听中，投资者的一些共同挑战在今天面临着投资策略？

DeMeo:让每个人都专注于结果而不是退货，这会让治国更多，并定义特定资产的成功。很高兴说，“嘿，我去年赚了9％，”你拿到了多少风险？你采取了什么样的流动性风险？如果未来几年看起来与过去几年或我们所有人的预料到什么？你做了压力测试，以确保你能在旅途中幸存吗？在一天结束时，重要的是实现了信托使命 - 无论是为了支付应许的退休福利，符合一个花费的目标，以便学生能够提供教育，或者确保可以满足保险索赔。投资者want and need to clearly understand the risks they’re taking compared to their risk tolerance.

O’Brien:投资者today are struggling with an ever-growing mix of obligations and regulations. This also sits alongside a countless mix of investment options. Our solutions approach offers a holistic, experienced, pragmatic, and client-centric approach. It is designed to help asset owners develop interesting ways of thinking through how to blend in new asset classes, exposures, benchmarks, risks, and other portfolio management issues.

As you know, investors keep a keen eye on fees these days. What’s your value proposition in that regard?

DeMeo:我们的一部分是我们的心态是为了确保我们的客户从结果的角度来花费有影响力的美元。如果他们没有花那么美元，他们是否得到了更好的结果？他们可以获得比花费的相同或更好的结果吗？我们了解这一问题在当今低产量环境中的重要性。从解决方案的角度来看，我们的目标是帮助客户实现更高的净风险调整的回报，包括我们收到的任何费用。所以。我们的自信客户可以通过与我们联系来获得美元的价值。

O’Brien:有时我们会与投资者见面，他们有无数的经理和战略，特别是在替代方案中。通常，我们将讨论它们如何更有效地花钱，因为您不需要30个对冲基金在投资组合中。此外，复杂性比没有阻碍性能，而不是抵抗它。因此，我们在该问题周围的整个讨论中心的一部分以及客户如何通过在投资组合中的各种资产课程中具有更少的复杂性来更好地服务。这也直接联系到收费效率。

为什么结果导致优先级列表？

DeMeo:如果您只查看预计的10年回报和标准差，那么您可能没有进行分析，以了解您是否有足够的资金，以便在这10年内沿途达到您的目标。让我们说你有通货膨胀加五作为你的投资目标 - 你将失败的机会是什么？at some point along the way? We can look at scenarios where this could happen, and make sure to align your portfolio to decrease that likelihood without materially impacting your long-term goal. Invariably, we find ways where we can improve those type of metrics and potentially provide investors true alpha. It might not be just asset allocation in a broad sense – it could be a particular strategy or allocation with correlation to an economic scenario that exacerbates drawdown risk at the worst possible time. That’s that next level of analytics that we go through to help uncover risks that clients may not have previously focused on. The industry is overly focused on statistical risk metrics like standard deviation, which are sometimes less relatable for clients. But when you translate that to say there’s a 10% chance of not being able to meet the fund’s spending policy or cash flow requirements over the next 10 years, that helps get an investor’s attention. From there, we can work with them to develop a solution that addresses this risk while still providing the long-term returns they need.

We talked about the global capabilities earlier – does that include your work as a fiduciary partner to clients?

DeMeo:它确实如此。同样，它并不一定意味着所有客户都希望我们对整个投资组合负责。通常，我们在更多的ACIO [助理CIO]容量中与客户合作。但是，无论客户愿意为我们接受他们的代表性水平，我们总是有一个信托的心态。它真的弄清楚了客户，我们可以最有影响到受托人

O’Brien:我们所做的一切都归功于密切倾听并以比大多数传统资产管理关系更具战略性的方式建立信任。需要解决的等式的一些战术片，但长期以来，重点是战略产出 - 客户可能在未来五年，10年及以后的可能性。我们发现资产所有者觉得这种类型的参与是实现目标的关键。

了解更多的好事s that can happen to your portfolio when someone listens.

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In the United States, Aberdeen Standard Investments is the marketing name for the following affiliated, registered investment advisers: Aberdeen Standard Investments Inc., Aberdeen Asset Managers Ltd., Aberdeen Standard Investments Australia Ltd., Aberdeen Standard Investments (Asia) Ltd., Aberdeen Capital Management, LLC, Aberdeen Standard Investments ETFs Advisors LLC and Aberdeen Standard Alternative Funds Limited