< The 2014 All-Europe Fixed-Income Research Team

2014-03-tom-johnson-all-europe-fixed-income-research-team-economics-strategy-albert-desclee.jpg

2014-03-tom-johnson-all-europe-fixed-income-research-team-economics-strategy-arne-staal.jpg
Albert Desclée,
Arne Staal & team
Barclays
First-Place Appearances: 2

Total Appearances: 4

Team Debut: 2011

Albert Desclée and Arne Staal steer their Barclays crew to a repeat No. 1 finish. “The dialogue with this team is the most productive,” proclaims one portfolio manager, “and their analysis has the most substance.” Investors are apprehensive that a shift by central banks toward less accommodative monetary policies, such as the U.S. Federal Reserve’s tapering of its quantitative-easing program, will lead to a significant increase in yields, the London-based analysts are finding. “This could result in negative returns for many sectors of the fixed-income market and jeopardize the traditionally defensive properties of bond portfolios,” explains Desclée. Accordingly, the analysts are helping clients to analyze risks, rebalance their portfolios and hedge their exposures, he says. Further, since the credit crisis, asset owners have become more cost- and performance-sensitive. As a result, notes Staal, they are seeking solutions “to benchmark, complement and, in some cases, substitute” actively managed absolute-return strategies with indexed investment strategies. As they pursue diversification and performance, equity managers are increasingly allocating their risk budgets to so-called alternative-beta strategies by replacing traditional market-cap weighted equity beta exposure with risk premiums across asset classes and styles, he adds. The Barclays squad’s “work is in the forefront, and the quality is very high,” asserts another fan.