Featured Investment Papers: Apr 2021
Hidden in Plain Sight
In this collection of Featured investment papers, the Savvy Team have put together several recent pieces which may have escaped the attention of the wider membership.
This selection covers a diverse range of investment topics, from a detailed survey of family offices to how collating numerous data streams into a holistic view of portfolios aids risk management and portfolio decision making. Other papers investigate investing in music publishing copyrights, one of the market's current 'hot' investment themes, and possible alternatives to bonds as risk mitigation tools in a low yield world.

IBOR: Data Consolidation and Management for the Front Office (SimCorp, 2021)
For compliance reasons, this paper is only accessible in certain geographies
In this paper, experts from Chartis Research and SimCorp conduct a survey of industry approaches to data management. They find a fragmented picture which may have significant financial implications, or opportunity costs, for portfolios and asset management businesses alike.
Global Family Office Survey (BlackRock, 2021)
For compliance reasons, this paper is only accessible in certain geographies
The BlackRock Global Family Office Survey combines data aggregated from an extensive online survey completed by 185 family offices globally, as well as in-depth interviews with 20 family offices.
Podcast: Music copyright investment? Music to my ears (M&G Investments, 2021)
For compliance reasons, this paper is only accessible in certain geographies
In this podcast, Riccardo Cumerlato and Andrew Amos of M&G Investments discuss music copyright royalties. Their conversation also covers the innovative investment structures that have been developed to take advantage of this unconventional asset class.
Enhancing Diversification in a Low-Yield World (UBS AM, 2021)
With bond yields low or negative, UBS Asset Management strategists observe that in many developed world economies investors have little to no protection from growth shocks. They argue for a multi-asset, multi-strategy approach which may include increasing exposure to Chinese debt and alternative assets.
Webinar: Portfolio Construction – Peer Analysis UK & Ireland (BlackRock, 2021)
For compliance reasons, this paper is only accessible in the United Kingdom
For Professional Clients Only: 2020 was a year none of us will forget, with extreme bouts of market volatility giving the UK/Ireland Multi-Asset category some of the greatest return dispersion in over a decade. With modern portfolio construction theory evolving, investment teams will be rethinking their strategic asset allocation to focus on key areas, while also reviewing their implementation toolbox.
Investment Outlook – Q2 (American Century, Apr 2021)
American Century’s Q2 2021 outlook paper offers a more positive view on the ‘new normal’ with swathes of the U.S. economy reopening, and several emerging markets returning to pre-pandemic growth rates. They mention rising inflation as a potential headwind and prefer index-linked to conventional debt.
The Bank of Japan's ETF Purchases and their Impact (Informa Financial Intelligence, 2021)
This Informa paper discusses research from EPFR. In it, they develop a factor which allows investors to benefit via individual stocks from the Bank of Japan’s ETF purchases.
Harvesting the Wisdom of the Smartest Digital Crowd (NN IP, 2021)
NN Investment Partners’ research paper outlines alpha generation in equity investing by taking data from the smartest of the digital crowd and – via machine learning and natural language processing – developing a ‘superforecasting’ signal and associated portfolio.