THEAM

‘Smart beta’ sounds like an oxymoron. How smart can it be to continue using the same strategy in such fickle markets? A portfolio manager calling on all his skills (‘alpha’) in analysing market environments (the source of ‘beta’) should be able to outperform an unchanged algorithm, right? And yet, for several decades, findings in behavioural psychology have cast doubt on this assumption.

All famous investors from Benjamin Graham to Warren Buffet have, first and foremost, been fervent advocates of value investing. Value can be assessed in very diverse ways and value investing can also suffer from some drawbacks. Here are a few pointers for understanding value and avoiding the most common misconceptions...

According to Tarek Issaoui, Head of Cross Asset Flexible Solutions at THEAM, coming months and years will most probably see more differentiation between the performance of flexible funds. As diversification benefits become less important, drawdown management will develop into a key element of underperformance or outperformance over the peer group.

Based on factor investment, this innovative approach capitalises on the attractive performances thus far of smart beta strategies. It is based on the combination, within the same portfolio, of four complementary factors that are loosely correlated with one another: Quality, Valuation, Momentum and Low Volatility.

THEAM, the BNP Paribas Investment Partners subsidiary specialising in capital-protected, indexed and model-driven management, is pleased to announce the appointment of Isabelle Bourcier as Head of ETF and indexed fund activities.