Other Key Front Office Roles in Asset Management

Other Key Front Office Roles in Asset Management

Thanos Papasavvas, CFA

30 years: Asset management

In the second video of this series, Thanos continues explaining the roles within the ‘front office’ who support the key decision makers, they are the "Economist ", "Portfolio Strategist", "Client Portfolio Manager (CPM)", "Product Specialist", "Head of Team" and "CIO (Chief Investment Officer)".

In the second video of this series, Thanos continues explaining the roles within the ‘front office’ who support the key decision makers, they are the "Economist ", "Portfolio Strategist", "Client Portfolio Manager (CPM)", "Product Specialist", "Head of Team" and "CIO (Chief Investment Officer)".

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Other Key Front Office Roles in Asset Management

8 mins 42 secs

Overview

Asset management firms have evolved dramatically over the last two decades to ensure that decision-making processes are open and repeatable, while also ensuring that decision-makers are still on hand to cope with opportunities and crises, while the rest of the team disseminates the views more generally within the organisation and beyond.

Key learning objectives:

  • Explain the roles of those who support the decision making process

  • Describe the roles of the Head of Team and Chief Investment Officer

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Summary

What are the roles of an Economist ?

An economist examines data from several countries in order to provide a macroeconomic image for the upcoming investment horizon. They use a multitude of sources for their analysis:

- Proprietary quantitative models they have developed in-house

- Analysis from 'sell-side' brokers and banks

- Analysis from major central banks like the Federal Reserve, Bank of England and ECB or Multinational organisations such    as the IMF, World Bank and OECD

The information used is then used by Analysts and Portfolio Managers in their decision making process.

What are the roles of a Portfolio Strategist?

Portfolio Strategists try to predict how markets will behave. They help ‘translate’ economic and geopolitical outlook into a view on financial markets – whether the next 3 to 6 months will be positive for equities, bonds or the US dollar.

Portfolio Strategists provide the PM with a ‘top-down’ view of the world. They assist the PM in structuring and implementing the PM's actionable themes into concrete portfolio roles.

Explain the role of a Client Portfolio Manager

CPMs act as the intermediary between the investment teams and clients, to allow Portfolio Managers to maximise their time efficiently on investments. They do not participate in decision-making and therefore do not take any risk, but they do provide feedback on client opinion and some background on how peers worked and why.

Explain the role of a Product Specialist

Product Specialists work for clients, albeit inside investment teams. They manage the product business elements as opposed to the actual investment process / approach. They work with the business development teams to help promote the strategies they represent to potential clients as well as to investment consultants.

They do not participate in decision-making, but they do attend investment meetings to stay up to date on current investment thinking and the rationale for portfolio structure and results.

What is the role of the Head of Team?

He/she determines the team’s budget, hiring needs and resources needed to effectively implement the team investment process.

What is a Chief Investment Officer responsible for?

The CIO is responsible for the overall management of investments which includes staff and resources, decision making process as well as in some cases market views and direction. The CIO's position is less about predicting markets and more about assisting in the definition of investment philosophy, the development of decision-making processes, and the management of people.

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Thanos Papasavvas, CFA

Thanos Papasavvas, CFA

Thanos is the Founder and Chief Investment Officer of ABP Invest, which he established in 2015 to provide strategic outlook and research on geopolitics, economics, markets and FX for financial and non-financial institutions. Prior to founding ABP Invest, Thanos worked at Credit Suisse Asset Management, Investec Asset Management and the UK Government Economic Service.

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