Survey of fixed income managers
The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic saw central banks taking supportive actions to mitigate the business impact of the resultant lockdowns. Set in the backdrop of investors’ hunt for yield amid recovering growth and rising inflation, our survey tried to assess the manner in which fixed income asset managers navigated the challenging times.
It further analysed the importance of credit research for fixed income asset managers, the level of satisfaction and preferences of fixed income research teams amid the changing landscape. The survey offered insights on the key challenges faced by fixed income research teams as well as the possible solutions that can help improve operational flexibility.
Key Takeaways
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As the easing cycle ends, respondents had a neutral view on fixed income markets and indicated that certain sub-segments, such as distressed debt and collateralised debt obligations, will offer pockets of opportunity from repricing.
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High inflation and anemic growth sentiment remain the key near-term headwinds for asset managers.
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During the turbulent times, 90% of the respondents believed that superior research is the key to generating alpha.
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75% of the respondents were either unhappy or only moderately satisfied with sell side research and rating agencies due to various limitations.
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50% of the respondents considered offshoring of research as a potential solution to enhance team performance but had reservations on data privacy.
Authors
Harshwardhan Khandelwal
Associate Directors, Fixed Income & Credit Research
Harshwardhan Khandelwal has close to 10 years of work experience in investment research, with a focus on financial institutions, sovereigns and supranational entities. He currently supports a large European buy-side client, providing opinion-based credit research (initiation and maintenance) and issuer rating recommendations by performing fundamental and technical analyses of issuers, and analyzing the capital requirements and structure of banks.
Prior to this, he supported the co-branded bottom-up research alongside onshore fixed income strategists for a major European investment bank’s private banking division. He is also actively involved in training, quality control of deliverables, and client discussions. He holds an MBA and a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering.
Jeetendra Prakash, CFA
Associate Director, Investment Research
Jeetendra Prakash has close to 15 years of work experience in investment research, with a focus on oil and gas and real estate. He currently supports a large US-based hedge fund. The process involves credit research of high-yield and investment grade credits for different strategies. In addition, he is also actively involved in training and quality control of deliverables. He holds an MBA and is also a CFA charter holder.
Survey of fixed income managers
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