Ramside Hall

Durham

DH1 1TD

Balancing the Blend

2022 was a difficult year in the industry – bonds didn’t diversify stocks and many multi-asset funds didn’t diversify one another. If one lesson was learnt off the back of this, it was that name diversification across funds does not equal style diversification. In this presentation, we highlight the importance of true style diversification against the backdrop of the value versus growth cycle, the importance of rebalancing, and how a well-diversified, regularly rebalanced portfolio can improve outcomes in the decumulation phase.

By the end of this session, attendees will be able to:

1. Distinguish between name diversification and true style diversification

2. Articulate the benefits of blending funds with different styles, including in decumulation

3. Explain the benefits of regular rebalancing

Speaker 

Nicola Dormehl,

Investment Counsellor - Orbis

Nicola joined Orbis in 2015, having spent three years as a business analyst at Orbis’ sister company, Allan Gray Proprietary Limited. She is a member of Orbis’ team of investment counsellors and a specialist on the Orbis Global Balanced and Global Cautious strategies. She has a Bachelor of Commerce in Economics (Cum Laude) and a Bachelor of Commerce (Honours) in Financial Economics and Investment Management (Cum Laude) from University of the Free State.

Why do we need to know about embedded biases in Multi Asset Funds?

Paul will offer his views on how to blend investment funds more successfully and prepare clients for the tail and headwinds of their investment journey. He’ll outline how this can lead to improved monitoring, giving you an extra edge when determining client suitability and ultimately lead to more effective client reviews.

By the end of this session, attendees will be able to:

1. Understand the need to identify investment styles.
2. Understand how investment styles perform differently throughout the cycle.
3. Understand how to avoid ‘Frankenstein’ portfolios when blending multi asset funds together.

Speaker

Paul Ilott 

MD, Scopic Research

Having started his career as an investment intermediary, before moving on to become head of tax and technical and also head of investment communications at a leading intermediary firm, Paul then headed up communications for the investment solutions team at Fidelity between 2007 and 2009. He established Scopic Research - the UK’s first research agency dedicated solely to multi asset solutions - in 2009. Paul is the architect of the Scopic Multi Asset DNA due diligence platform, which launched in June 2022.