L&G Talks Asset Management

With over $15 trillion in negative yielding bonds in the market, a decade of loose monetary policy has left developed market yields languishing and investors on the hunt for sources of higher return. Enter emerging market debt. At a market size of over $12 trillion, this can no longer be considered a niche asset class.  Cashflow matching strategies are customised investment solutions, designed to enable clients such as pension schemes or insurance companies to meet their liabilities. In this episode, we discuss how emerging market fixed income has an important role to play in designing cashflow matching strategies. ·         John Grey, Emerging Market Credit Analyst·         Karen Ng, Buy & Maintain team·         Toby Orpin, Senior Solutions Distribution Manager Read the team’s full article here: https://www.lgim.com/uk/en/insights/our-thinking/client-solutions/missing-piece-of-the-cashflow-matching-puzzle.html?cid=lgimtalks We want to hear from you! Email us at mark.chappel@lgim.com with your thoughts on the podcast and any suggestions of the guests or types of content you’d like to see covered.This podcast is intended for investment professionals, and shouldn’t be shared with a non-professional audience. This podcast should not be taken as an invitation to deal in Legal & General investments. Any views expressed during this recording belong to the individuals and are based on market conditions at the time of recording, and do not reflect the views of Legal & General Investment Management. Legal & General Investment Management is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Legal & General Investment Management, One Coleman Street, London, EC2R 5AA. Register in England no. 2091894. All rights reserved. No part of this audio may be reproduced in whole or in part without the prior written consent of Legal & General Investment Management.

Governance is at the heart of what The Pensions Regulator (TPR) does because good governance means good outcomes for members. With a wealth of new statutory guidance coming into force, especially in such areas as ESG, Anthony has been instrumental in delivering education and support to help trustees find their way through this new regulatory landscape.     Joining us at our DB/DC Client Investment Conference earlier this autumn, Anthony discussed the work of TPR, its key areas of focus including the “21st Century Trusteeship” project and, of course, how incorporating financially material ESG factors into investments can help better prepare schemes for the future and manage long-term risks.   This conversation was also recorded live! Find the full video on our YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUmfV6VjfydEykC6QzXNPSQ/featured?disable_polymer=1      ·         Anthony Raymond, General Counsel and Director of Legal Services, The Pensions Regulator ·         Mark Chappel, Senior Content Manager     We want to hear from you! Email us at mark.chappel@lgim.com with your thoughts on the podcast and any suggestions of the guests or types of content you’d like to see covered.   This podcast is intended for investment professionals, and shouldn’t be shared with a non-professional audience. This podcast should not be taken as an invitation to deal in Legal & General investments. Any views expressed during this recording belong to the individuals and are based on market conditions at the time of recording, and do not reflect the views of Legal & General Investment Management. Legal & General Investment Management is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Legal & General Investment Management, One Coleman Street, London, EC2R 5AA. Register in England no. 2091894. All rights reserved. No part of this audio may be reproduced in whole or in part without the prior written consent of Legal & General Investment Management.

The world is facing a water crisis. If that sounds alarmist, consider a few statistics. The global per capita water supply has fallen by 56% since 1962, with 57% of aquifers having passed the tipping point. By 2025, 1.8 billion people are expected to be living in regions with absolute water scarcity and two-thirds of the world’s population will be living under water-stress conditions. Population growth is obviously a factor in this, but water shortages are also being aggravated by many other forces, from climate change to urbanisation. And even where there is plentiful water, it is becoming increasingly polluted. Cumulatively, this is forecast to lead to a deficit of at least 40% between the availability of and demand for fresh water in the next 10 years. Yet, as Aanand Venkatramanan explains in this episode, we need not despair if we act now. Clean water is one of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, and should attract investment of up to $23 trillion over the next 10-20 years. Aanand describes some of the most promising technologies that will help us meet this challenge, and sets out the opportunities they create for investors. For more insights into the investment opportunities in the market for clean water, visit: http://www2.landginvestments.com/l/26932/2019-07-10/6x5n3d/26932/108837/LGIM_ETF_CLEAN_WATER_BROCHURE.pdf  •             Aanand Venkatramanan, Head of ETF Investment Strategies•             Robert StGeorge, Content Manager We want to hear from you! Email us at mark.chappel@lgim.com with your thoughts on the podcast and any suggestions of the guests or types of content you’d like to see covered. This podcast is intended for investment professionals, and shouldn’t be shared with a non-professional audience. This podcast should not be taken as an invitation to deal in Legal & General investments. Any views expressed during this recording belong to the individuals and are based on market conditions at the time of recording, and do not reflect the views of Legal & General Investment Management. Legal & General Investment Management is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Legal & General Investment Management, One Coleman Street, London, EC2R 5AA. Register in England no. 2091894. All rights reserved. No part of this audio may be reproduced in whole or in part without the prior written consent of Legal & General Investment Management.

One the most engaging speakers at both LGIM’s Retail and DB/DC Client Conferences, Dr Paul Redmond is one of the foremost speakers on the subject of how different generations can work together most effectively. There has been so much written about millennials – what they want, what they don’t want, their expectations – that it can seem like this is really a generation that stands apart and sometimes in conflict with the others.    But according to Dr Redmond, this is far from the truth. While there are some characteristics unique to this generation, we all have a lot more in common than you might think. In this fascinating conversation, we discuss some of the innovative tips he has for managers – including ‘reverse mentoring’ – and the ways millennials can best learn from Generation X.   This conversation was also recorded live! Find the full video on our YouTube channel here: https://youtu.be/hlh7LrdsUHk   ·         Dr Paul Redmond, Director of Student Experience and Enhancement, University of Liverpool ·         Mark Chappel, Senior Content Manager   We want to hear from you! Email us at mark.chappel@lgim.com with your thoughts on the podcast and any suggestions of the guests or types of content you’d like to see covered.   This podcast is intended for investment professionals, and shouldn’t be shared with a non-professional audience. This podcast should not be taken as an invitation to deal in Legal & General investments. Any views expressed during this recording belong to the individuals and are based on market conditions at the time of recording, and do not reflect the views of Legal & General Investment Management. Legal & General Investment Management is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Legal & General Investment Management, One Coleman Street, London, EC2R 5AA. Register in England no. 2091894. All rights reserved. No part of this audio may be reproduced in whole or in part without the prior written consent of Legal & General Investment Management.  

In an episode earlier this year, Howie Li and John Roe discussed what separates long-term investment themes from fads. As Howie explains, the enduring themes are those that are changing the foundations of how we live and work – from disruptive technology to the energy revolution and demographic shifts.Yet capturing these themes in an investment strategy is not easy, so in this episode Howie addresses some recurring questions we’ve received from listeners and clients. How do we avoid companies exploiting thematic buzzwords for their own marketing purposes rather than genuinely innovating? What is the difference between a thematic and a sector-based investment strategy? How can investors integrate themes into their portfolios? Is it possible to time exposure to themes?Howie covers all these challenging topics and more in this conversation, while also sharing practical examples of how we can put the theory of thematic investing into practice.To find out more and read our full paper on thematic investing, visit: http://www2.landginvestments.com/disruptive-technology·         Howie Li, Head of ETFs·         Robert StGeorge, Content ManagerWe want to hear from you! Email us at mark.chappel@lgim.com with your thoughts on the podcast and any suggestions of the guests or types of content you’d like to see covered.This podcast is intended for investment professionals, and shouldn’t be shared with a non-professional audience. This podcast should not be taken as an invitation to deal in Legal & General investments. Any views expressed during this recording belong to the individuals and are based on market conditions at the time of recording, and do not reflect the views of Legal & General Investment Management. Legal & General Investment Management is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Legal & General Investment Management, One Coleman Street, London, EC2R 5AA. Register in England no. 2091894. All rights reserved. No part of this audio may be reproduced in whole or in part without the prior written consent of Legal & General Investment Management.

Live from the Landmark Hotel! We recorded this episode while at our DB/DC Client Conference where the topic of dealing with retirement anxiety was such a major topic. So that’s why we’re absolutely delighted to be joined by Julie Richards Group Director of Pensions of Boots Walgreens Alliance. The challenges of whether pension scheme members are prepared enough for retirement (“the cliff edge”) and, crucially for all of us in the industry, what we can do more to make sure they feel in control of their pension and what their retirement will look like. In a first for LGIM Talks, we also videoed this episode while on the road! Check out Simon and Julie on our YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUmfV6VjfydEykC6QzXNPSQ/videos ·         Julie Richards, Group Director of Pensions of Boots Walgreens Alliance ·         Simon Chinnery, Head of DC Client Solutions, LGIM We want to hear from you! Email us at mark.chappel@lgim.com with your thoughts on the podcast and any suggestions of the guests or types of content you’d like to see covered. This podcast is intended for investment professionals, and shouldn’t be shared with a non-professional audience. This podcast should not be taken as an invitation to deal in Legal & General investments. Any views expressed during this recording belong to the individuals and are based on market conditions at the time of recording, and do not reflect the views of Legal & General Investment Management. Legal & General Investment Management is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Legal & General Investment Management, One Coleman Street, London, EC2R 5AA. Register in England no. 2091894. All rights reserved. No part of this audio may be reproduced in whole or in part without the prior written consent of Legal & General Investment Management.

What can Alex Ferguson’s career teach us about factor investing? In recent years, index and factor investing solutions have been bestsellers. But factor investing success is not a foregone conclusion, and there are plenty of quirks and misprints in the literature. In his new book, Index Fund Management: A Practical Guide to Smart Beta, Factor Investing and Risk Premia, Fadi Zaher simplifies the world of factors and calls out both the factor fanatics and the smart beta sceptics. This conversation touches on the five equity factors that matter – value, quality, momentum, low volatility and size – and why factors are the nutrients in your portfolio meal, you have to have a balance!Fadi’s book is available on Amazon now and you can also find more of his writings on factor investing here: https://futureworldblog.lgim.com/authors/fadi-zaher/?cid=lgimtalks ·         Fadi Zaher, Head of Index Solutions and author·         Max Julius, Head of ContentWe want to hear from you! Email us at mark.chappel@lgim.com with your thoughts on the podcast and any suggestions of the guests or types of content you’d like to see covered.This podcast is intended for investment professionals, and shouldn’t be shared with a non-professional audience. This podcast should not be taken as an invitation to deal in Legal & General investments. Any views expressed during this recording belong to the individuals and are based on market conditions at the time of recording, and do not reflect the views of Legal & General Investment Management. Legal & General Investment Management is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Legal & General Investment Management, One Coleman Street, London, EC2R 5AA. Register in England no. 2091894. All rights reserved. No part of this audio may be reproduced in whole or in part without the prior written consent of Legal & General Investment Management. 

Many investors will still tell you that responsible investment approaches begin and end with negative screens – excluding whole sectors such as oil & gas from portfolios. This is entirely understandable: if an investor wants an ESG integrated portfolio, it seems strange to continue to hold oil stocks. But when you apply this to a market-cap index – such as the MSCI World with its whopping 5% energy weighting – exclusion means allocating more to the technology and finance sectors as a result, perhaps not necessarily the diversification you might have been looking for from an index.It’s also important to think about what exclusions do to your factor exposure. Swapping energy for tech might have been great for returns these past five years, but on a factor basis that means you will be overweight growth and underweight value going into the next turn of the economic cycle.In this conversation, we discuss the unintended consequences of exclusions and dive into the ways ESG analysis can be integrated into index products to give you a high ESG impact without a high tracking error.To find out more and read Dave’s full research paper, visit: www.lgim.com/friendorfoe?cid=lgimtalks·         Dave Barron, Head of Index Equity & Smart Beta·         Robert StGeorge, Content ManagerWe want to hear from you! Email us at mark.chappel@lgim.com with your thoughts on the podcast and any suggestions of the guests or types of content you’d like to see covered.This podcast is intended for investment professionals, and shouldn’t be shared with a non-professional audience. This podcast should not be taken as an invitation to deal in Legal & General investments. Any views expressed during this recording belong to the individuals and are based on market conditions at the time of recording, and do not reflect the views of Legal & General Investment Management. Legal & General Investment Management is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Legal & General Investment Management, One Coleman Street, London, EC2R 5AA. Register in England no. 2091894. All rights reserved. No part of this audio may be reproduced in whole or in part without the prior written consent of Legal & General Investment Management.

Many pension schemes store a huge amount of member data. But this is often difficult to access, incomplete or inconsistent, and stored in multiple formats – PDFs, spreadsheets and others. Schemes struggle to analyse their data, develop sample user personas, and make predictions about future trends and behaviours, let alone support members in improving their pension choices to improve outcomes. Our episode this week explores how schemes can put this wealth of data to use. Trustees need to be able to cut through the noise of unnecessary data and find the insights in their specific members’ behaviour. For instance, member communication might not only better show their future total pension pot but also how they compare with others in the demographic group – are you saving more or less than people in a similar position?  In an environment where trustees and scheme managers are time-poor, data-rich, and finding underlying information a struggle to organise, a one-stop-data-shop can provide a clearer picture of your scheme. Read Stuart’s full article here: https://www.lgim.com/uk/en/insights/our-thinking/client-solutions/the-power-of-data-science.html?cid=lgimtalks ·         Stuart Murphy, Head of DC Client Management, L&G ·         Peter Jackson, Director of Group Data Sciences, L&G We want to hear from you! Email us at mark.chappel@lgim.com with your thoughts on the podcast and any suggestions of the guests or types of content you’d like to see covered. This podcast is intended for investment professionals, and shouldn’t be shared with a non-professional audience. This podcast should not be taken as an invitation to deal in Legal & General investments. Any views expressed during this recording belong to the individuals and are based on market conditions at the time of recording, and do not reflect the views of Legal & General Investment Management. Legal & General Investment Management is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Legal & General Investment Management, One Coleman Street, London, EC2R 5AA. Register in England no. 2091894. All rights reserved. No part of this audio may be reproduced in whole or in part without the prior written consent of Legal & General Investment Management.

Advisers are no stranger to the PFS. With its royal charter to ‘secure and justify the confidence of the public’, this professional body is committed to helping its members develop their careers and maintain high standards through competence, integrity and care for the customer. Under the leadership of Keith Richards, the society has focused on three key pillars: (1) greater member engagement, (2) involvement in regulatory and public policymaking and (3) engaging the public to raise awareness about the high-quality service available. In this week’s episode, I talk to Keith about how advisers can demonstrate real value for their clients, the booming market for advisers overseas and the demand for well-qualified professionals, and of course, costs and regulation. From the Pension Transfer Gold Standard to the amazing pro-bono community work its members can take part in, our conversation covers almost everything about what it means to be an adviser today and his prediction that we’ll still see some of the family names above advisory firms still there in 100 years’ time. Find out more about the work of the PFS here: https://www.thepfs.org/ ·           Keith Richards, CEO, The Personal Finance Society ·           Mark Chappel, Senior Content Manager We want to hear from you! Email us at mark.chappel@lgim.com with your thoughts on the podcast and any suggestions of the guests or types of content you’d like to see covered. This podcast is intended for investment professionals, and shouldn’t be shared with a non-professional audience. This podcast should not be taken as an invitation to deal in Legal & General investments. Any views expressed during this recording belong to the individuals and are based on market conditions at the time of recording, and do not reflect the views of Legal & General Investment Management. Legal & General Investment Management is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Legal & General Investment Management, One Coleman Street, London, EC2R 5AA. Register in England no. 2091894. All rights reserved. No part of this audio may be reproduced in whole or in part without the prior written consent of Legal & General Investment Management.