Insights - Pavilion Financial Corporation
Transcription
Insights - Pavilion Financial Corporation
Insights KEEPING YOU UP TO DATE -- Corporate newsletter Inside This Issue insights newsletter Volume 2, July 2011 The impact of long/short on your portfolio 1 Conference addresses the challenges of regulatory change for South African pension funds 2 Firm’s CCO elected to IIROC’s Quebec District Council 3 Team Update 4 Book review - Keynes: The return of the Master 6 Contact The impact of long/short on your portfolio By Michael McMurray, Investment Consultant & Sunny Ng, Director, Alternatives Research In the December issue of Insights, we provided a qualitative overview of the three types of long/short equity strategies: Active Extension, Market Neutral and Directional. As a follow-up, we thought that it would be helpful to provide a quantitative comparison of how the strategies have performed over the past six years. The median risk and return numbers in this article were created using Brockhouse Cooper’s proprietary investment manager database and return streams from third party providers. The number of products for each strategy, geographic region and length of track record are listed below. North America All Regions Length of track record 1 Yr 3 Yrs 6 Yrs 1 Yr 3 Yrs 6 Yrs Active Extension strategies 78 72 12 --- --- --- Directional Long/Short strategies 574 499 346 --- --- --- Equity Market Neutral strategies --- --- --- 230 167 90 Continued on page 4 Inquiries or comments concerning this newsletter can be addressed to: Marie-Michelle Dumas [email protected] Brockhouse Cooper 1250 René-Lévesque Blvd W Suite 4025 Montréal, QC H3B 4W8 Canada Tel: +1 514-932-1548 Fax: +1 514-932-8288 www.brockhousecooper.com 2 insights newsletter July 2011 Conference addresses the challenges of regulatory change for South African pension funds - By Carey Else, Marketing Director, Brockhouse Cooper South Africa Eric Bolduc, Vice President, Implementation Services at Brockhouse Cooper, presented a paper on Transition Management at the Southern African Pension Fund Investment Forum (SAPFIF) Conference, held in June in Sandton, South Africa. The focus of the conference was “Managing Pension Funds in Times of Regulatory Change”, which sought to address pertinent questions facing South African Pension Funds concerning the amendments to Regulation 28 (Reg 28) of the Pension Funds Act. The Pensions Fund Act was promulgated in 1956 and Regulation 28, which prescribes limits in respect of asset classes, was published in 1962. As it was last amended in 1998, its reform was eagerly anticipated to ensure its continued relevance within the dynamics of the current investment landscape. Pension funds now need to evaluate their strategies in light of the amendments. What should they be doing now to ensure they remain compliant? What are the key implications of the changes and how will this impact asset allocation policy? How can pension funds manage their risk exposure and cost effectively? Should pension funds be considering changes to their investment policy and strategy? Of particular significance within the global context, aligned with the relaxation of exchange controls, is the increase in the offshore allowance for institutional investors to 25 per cent, and an additional 5 per cent into About SAPFIF SAPFIF is one of the seven divisions of EPFIF, the European Forum, whose pension fund members’ assets currently amount to about €2000 billion. The forum was started in October 2006, and holds three meetings a year in Sandton and Cape Town, South Africa, and in Windhoek, Namibia. Attendance at the SAPFIF forum typically includes approximately 80 Principal Officers, who represent some of the largest Pension Funds and Pension Fund Administrators in South Africa. Africa. Equally significant was the change in asset allocation limits to alternative investments, such as hedge funds and private equity, from 2.5 per cent to 10 per cent. Institutions need to evaluate the optimal management of the changes to be implemented and re-align their portfolios against this backdrop. Critical to this process are the mitigation of risk and the minimization of costs, both of which can significantly impact portfolio performance. Transitioning Portfolios – How can this be done effectively? Mr. Bolduc told conference attendees that effective transition management is a vital part of a fund’s investment strategy and a key element in reducing a fund’s risk profile. He outlined the importance of comprehensive reporting, including a pre- and post-transition analysis, with detailed implicit and explicit costs, both estimated and actual. Effective risk management is vital to achieving a reduced portfolio tracking error, and algorithmic trading is one of the advanced trading tools used to reduce imbalances in the portfolio within country sector and market capitalization allocations. Hedging strategies, such as the use of futures, OTC forwards, and ETFs may also be employed to reduce tracking error. Brockhouse Cooper uses the implementation shortfall method to measure the cost of a transition. Implementation Shortfall is the difference in performance between the theoretical target portfolio and the actual transition portfolio at the end of the transition period. Given the complex dynamics of a multi-market investment scenario, the selection of a transition manager with extensive international experience and an established global network is critical in achieving the fund’s investment objectives. Brockhouse Cooper offers a global transition management solution and within that context, the South African team provides local specialist market knowledge, relationships, compliance, and expertise. Carey Else, Marketing Director, Brockhouse Cooper South Africa [email protected] At the Mic Dr. Nicolas Papageorgiou, Director of Quantitative Research, will be a panelist at the Quant Invest Canada event, to be held in Toronto, October 17-19. Dr. Papageorgiou’s panel will take place on October 19 and will discuss how to: - Manage systemic risks; - Factor in changing market volatility and regulatory risks; - Determine a tolerable risk level; and - View the same phenomena from different angles using multiple risk models. Dr. Papageorgiou will be joined by Barry Allan, Founding Partner, Marret Asset Management and Ian Nisbet, COO, Style Research. Also on October 19th, at the same conference, Anton Loukine, Chief Investment Officer of Pavilion Asset Management Ltd., a sister-company to Brockhouse Cooper, will be presenting a case study: A framework for constructing customized, cost-efficient portfolios. The case study will look at what elements can be controlled (transaction costs, market impact, taxes, etc.) and how to add value through tax management. 3 insights newsletter July 2011 Firm’s CCO elected to IIROC’s Quebec District Council Douglas Simsovic, Brockhouse Cooper’s General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer, has been elected to the Quebec District Council of the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC). “I’m honoured and excited to be part of this Council which acts as a local committee of IIROC. We fulfill both a regulatory role in relation to regional approval and membership matters and an advisory role with respect to regional issues, providing a regional perspective on national issues,” said Mr. Simsovic who will serve a two-year term on the committee. The Quebec District Council is one of 10 across Canada with each Council comprised of four to 20 members. The Chairs of each of the District Councils comprise the National Advisory Committee (NAC). The Chair of NAC meets with the IIROC Board three times per year. District Councils exercise their regulatory authority and perform their advisory function directly or through delegation to staff or District Council sub-committees. Specific Responsibilities of the District Councils: 1. Approve “Applications for Approval” of individuals. (Rule 20.18(1)(a)) 2. Impose terms and conditions on individuals applying for approval (Rule 20.18(2)(a)) and as a condition of continued approval for an individual. (Rule 20.18(3)) 3. Revoke or suspend the approval of an individual. (Rule 20.18(4)) 4. Exempt individual approved persons from proficiency and continuing education requirements pursuant to Rule 2900. (Rule 20.24(2)) 5. Grant exemptions from introducing-carrying broker arrangement requirements with respect to foreign affiliates. (Rule 35.6 and Rule 20.25(1)) 6. Hear and decide on appeals of proficiency related decisions of the District Council’s registration sub-committee under Rule 20.24 or 20.25. (Rule 20.26) 7. Recommend new membership applications for submission to the IIROC Board for approval. (Rule 20.20) 8. Approve ownership-related transactions for IIROC Members. (IIROC Rules 5 and 6) 9. Approve the panel of district auditors annually, as recommended by staff. (Rule 16.1) 10. Nominate (for appointment by the Corporate Governance Committee) individuals resident in the District to be members of the hearing committee of that District. (Schedule C.1 to Transition Rule No. 1, section 1.2) 11. Perform any other regulatory functions delegated to District Councils under IIROC’s Rules or delegation orders. 12. Advise staff on policy matters of interest to the membership and the industry. There are 10 IIROC District Councils across Canada: - Alberta District, comprised of the Province of Alberta and the Northwest Territories - Manitoba District, comprised of the Province of Manitoba and the Territory of Nunavut - New Brunswick District - Newfoundland and Labrador District - Nova Scotia District - Ontario District - Pacific District, comprised of the Province of British Columbia and the Yukon Territory - Prince Edward Island District - Quebec District - Saskatchewan District Montreal CFA dinner a success Early last month, Brockhouse Cooper attended the 2011 Montreal Annual CFA Forecast Dinner, for which Eric Fontaine, Investment Consultant, is part of the organizing committee. The event, held under the theme “Investing in a troubled world: More than just financial risks!“ was a great success and featured local and international panelists. Moderator: Roland Lescure, First Vice President & Chief Investment at Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec. Panelists: Ed Devlin, Executive Vice President at PIMCO, Marc Lévesque, Vice President, Economics and Market Strategy and Chief Economist at PSP Investments, Robert Lloyd George, Chairman & CEO at Lloyd George Management and Dr. Magne Orgland , Chairman at Wegelin. As is the tradition, the evening included a contest whereby participants register their economic predictions for the coming year. The most accurate predictor is awarded a prize. Mr. Fontaine presented the 2011 forecast contest winner, André Chabot from Triasima, with the commemorative trophy. 4 insights newsletter July 2011 Brockhouse Cooper team update Brockhouse Cooper is pleased to welcome two new research analysts to its Advisory Services team. Philip Coté joins Brockhouse Cooper from CIBC Asset Management, where he worked as a Consultant for Mutual Fund Product Development & Management, providing recommendations on the various funds. He also previously worked for National Bank Direct Brockerage as a Senior Product Analyst. Mr. Coté holds a Bachelor of Commerce (Finance) from the John Molson School of Business and a Graduate Certificate, Treasury/Finance from McGill University. He was awarded the FRM designation in 2004 and the CFA designation in 2007. Nicholas Rossy recently graduated from McGill University with a Bachelor of Science: Major in Biochemistry & Minor in Management. Prior to joining Brockhouse Cooper, Mr. Rossy worked as Customer Service Representative for the Bank of Montreal. He is a registered Level II CFA candidate and completed his Canadian Securities Course Certificate earlier this year. Reporting to Ryan Anderson, Head of Investment Manager Research, Messrs. Coté and Rossy will conduct due diligence on investment managers via on-site visits or meetings at Brockhouse Cooper headquarters. They will also work closely with our investment consultants to service clients. The impact of long/short on your portfolio continued from page 1 For this analysis we have chosen to focus on Directional and Extension strategies that invest only in North American stocks. The reasons for this are twofold: firstly, the number of non-North American long/ short equity strategies is fairly low and thus it is difficult to create meaningful median and quartile breaks. Secondly, it is difficult to compare the returns of strategies with positive beta exposures when the underlying betas are different. However, given that Equity Market Neutral strategies are agnostic to market directionality, we do not believe that the markets/regions in which the manager trades are relevant for our analysis. We have therefore grouped all the strategies together into a single universe. Exhibit 2 presents the calendar year returns for the S&P 500 Index, the Brockhouse Cooper US Large Cap Equity median, and various long/short indices and medians representative of the strategies under review. It provides a general overview of how the strategies have performed relative to each other in various market conditions over the last six years. Exhibit 2 - Calendar Year Returns ($USD) 5 insights newsletter July 2011 The impact of long/short on your portfolio continued from page 4 In Exhibit 3, we provide the median risk and return figures for the three types of strategies under review. All relative risk measures are calculated versus the S&P 500 Index. Reviewing the median results from the three strategies, we see that, as expected, Active Extension is the most index-oriented (relative return), Equity Market Neutral is the least index-oriented (absolute return), while Directional Long/Short lies between the two. Absolute Return As expected, the highest beta strategy – Active Extension – had the highest absolute returns during strong equity markets and the lowest returns during declining markets. It is generally expected that Equity Market Neutral will do the best in negative markets while Directional will outperform in sideways or neutral markets. However, we note that this is not always the case as evidenced by the fact that Directional strategies actually outperformed Market Neutral over the last three-year period of negative market returns. In terms of risk, Equity Market Neutral produced the lowest standard deviation, Active Extension the highest, and Directional lies between the two. We note that the strong returns of the higher beta strategies produced the highest Sharpe ratios over the one-year period ending December 2010. Meanwhile, Directional managers produced the best Sharpe ratios over the three and six-year periods due to their strong returns compared with the other strategies. Reviewing the absolute returns of the strategies, we find that there is no clear winner. Rather, the selection of a strategy should be made based on the return profile which best meets the investor’s requirements. Exhibit 3 – US$ Median Risk/Return Measures (periods ending December 2010) Strategy Region Benchmark The returns of the high beta strategy – Active Extension – are more closely linked to the indices and these products therefore tend to outperform during bull markets. As expected, this strategy had the lowest tracking error while the lower beta strategies had very high tracking errors. The Directional Long/Short and Equity Market Neutral strategies were able to produce the higher information ratios over the three- and six-year periods. However we would not necessarily expect this to persist on a go-forward basis, as the measurement period was one of higher-than-normal volatility coupled with low index returns. The median Active Extension strategy was able to produce consistent positive excess returns and information ratios. For an investor interested in relative returns, the Directional and Market Neutral strategies should not be considered. Active Extension strategies are much better suited for index-oriented investors. We provide below a summary of the results by strategy. Long/Short Directional Equity Market Neutral North America North America All Regions S&P 500 S&P 500 S&P 500 1 Year (positive market return) Return 15.2 11.6 1.6 Alpha 0.2 -3.5 -13.5 Std Dev 19.8 13.4 5.2 Sharpe Ratio 0.8 0.8 0.2 TE 3.4 14.2 18.2 Info Ratio 0.0 Negative Negative 1.0 0.5 0.1 Beta 3 Years (negative market return) Return -2.1 3.4 0.9 Alpha 0.7 6.2 3.8 Std Dev 22.2 16.7 4.4 Sharpe Ratio Negative 0.2 0.1 TE 5.2 18.8 22.4 Info Ratio 0.2 0.4 0.2 Beta 1.0 0.5 0.0 6 Years (market return close to zero) Return Relative Return The excess returns of the lower beta strategies – Directional and Market Neutral – versus long-only equity indices are highly dependent on the market environment. As anticipated, these strategies tend to outperform during low and negative return environments and trail during periods of strong index returns. Active Extension (1X0/X0) 3.4 6.8 2.1 Alpha 0.7 4.1 -0.6 Std Dev 17.0 15.1 11.3 Sharpe Ratio 0.1 0.3 0.0 TE 4.6 14.6 21.5 Info Ratio 0.2 0.3 0.0 Beta 1.0 0.5 0.1 Active Extension Strategies In general, the risk and return characteristics of Extension strategies have not been significantly different from those of active, long-only strategies. The expected impact on the absolute risk/return trade-off of replacing a long-only equity strategy with an equity extension strategy is relatively minimal given that the underlying beta exposure of the portfolio would not change. We believe that higher tracking error long-only strategies and Active Extension strategies should be considered as competing products as they produce similar risk/return characteristics at the portfolio level. We expect Active Extension strategies to outperform Directional and Market Neutral strategies during strong bull markets as in 2010, but underperform in weaker markets as over the last three and six years. insights newsletter July 2011 6 The impact of long/short on your portfolio continued from page 5 Directional Long/Short Strategies Directional managers will, on average, have lower net exposure to the markets than their long-only and Active Extension counterparts, and derive a large portion of their returns from dynamically adjusting net exposures and security selection. Absolute and relative risk measures have generally been between those of long-only/Active Extension and Market Neutral managers. We would expect Directional strategies to outperform during negative, flat and slightly positive market environments and underperform during bull markets. Although not shown in this article, Directional has the highest dispersion between its top and bottom quartile. Manager selection appears to be very important within these strategies. Inquiries or comments concerning this article can be addressed to Michael McMurray Investment Consultant [email protected] 514-932-1548 Equity Market Neutral Strategies Equity Market Neutral has had the lowest volatility of the three strategies under review while tracking error has been the highest and beta the lowest. Returns have been comparatively good over three and six years (poor market returns), but underperformed in 2010 (strong market returns). We expect Market Neutral strategies to outperform Active Extension strategies during bear or flat markets. We believe that this strategy will likely lower the long-term return expectations (assuming that the allocation is from equities), given that Market Neutral managers, as a group, have generally produced lower absolute returns (but higher risk-adjusted returns) than long-only managers. We believe that replacing a long-only equity allocation with a Market Neutral manager will result in risk reduction on an absolute basis due to their low market exposure. Given their low beta, we believe that Market Neutral will produce the highest tracking error and lowest information ratios of the three strategies. Book review by Alex Bellefleur, Financial Economist Keynes: The return of the Master, by Robert Skidelsky Penguin Books, 2010 227 pp., 26,95$ - “Is Barack Obama a Keynesian?” - “No; he’s American! He was born in Hawaii! That is a state of the United States!” Last year, a YouTube video showing interviews with a vox populi of participants in Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert’s “Rally to Restore Sanity” in Washington went viral. The interviewer asked whether the President of the United States was a Keynesian. Confused rally participants, whom it is safe to assume were mostly political liberals sympathetic to the President, were apparently confounded by the term “Keynesian”, which many understood to mean “Kenyan”, i.e. a citizen of Kenya. This rather amusing episode not only speaks loudly about the current state of political affairs in the United States, but also about the legacy of the economist John Maynard Keynes. After many years in the intellectual wilderness, attempts to answer. Readers looking for a bioKeynes is back - and back in a big way. His ideas graphical sketch of Keynes’s life should turn to are now in vogue in political circles that, in the Skidelsky’s three-tome biography of the econopast, would not have paid much attention to his mist rather than The Return of the Master, which economic policy recommendations. Even coninstead summarizes and explains Keynes’s ideas servative politicians such as Canada’s Stephen and details their rise, fall and subsequent 21st Harper or France’s Nicolas Sarkozy introduced century renaissance. large economic stimulus programs to dampen the effects of the Skidelsky is most “Skidelsky is most interesting in his description recent Great Recesinteresting in his of the current intellectual debate between the New sion. This probably description of the Classical and the New Keynesian economists, who ran counter to their current intellectual ideological instincts, debate between the differ both in their respective explanations for the as both politicians New Classical and recent crisis and policy prescriptions on how to get were initially elected the New Keynesian out of this mess.” by promising less economists, who state intervention in the economy, not more. But differ both in their respective explanations for the such was the strength of the Keynesian tide that recent crisis and policy prescriptions on how to no policy maker could stand in the way nor resist get out of this mess – a task that is taking longer the temptation to introduce stimulus to the ailing than just about everyone would have expected. global economy and expand government’s role in The side of the debate from which Skidelsky the economy, either through increased spending is writing is quite clear; his pro-Keynes views or regulations. permeate the book, especially in his depiction of the other side’s arguments. For example, SkidelHow did Keynes come back so strongly? And sky describes the New Classicals (i.e. the supplywhy did he disappear in the first place? These side, tax-cutting, deregulating economists) in a are the questions that Robert Skidelsky’s book slightly simplistic way, as if they were ultra-rigid insights newsletter July 2011 in their views that markets must always clear and that economic agents’ expectations are always rational. He deliberately highlights their contradictions and exposes their flaws, making them look bad in the process. Had this book been written a few years from now – when Greece, Portugal and Ireland will probably have restructured their debts and when the U.S. will likely face a day of reckoning with respect to its own national debt – the author’s tone might have been slightly different when discussing government spending. Despite this bias, Skidelsky hits the nail on the head when describing the New Classical mindset as believing that in a risky world where expectations are rational, it must follow that financial assets fully reflect all available information. Additionally, if markets never fail, then the crisis must be explained by policy mistakes, such as the excessive money creation that led to the epic U.S. 2000-2007 housing boom and bust. The Milton Friedman-inspired monetarist mindset then interprets the housing bust as an unexpected shock that caused the money supply to collapse. In this context, “The Quantitative Easing” applied in two waves by “The Ben Bernank” should be seen as a distinctively New Classical monetarist response to the crisis, attempting to offset the collapse in the money supply by injections of cash into the economy. The Keynesian school of thought, on the other hand, explains the crisis differently and prescribes a different remedy. Rather than seeing the crisis as having been caused by monetary forces, New Keynesians attribute it to a collapse of aggregate demand caused by the instability of 7 investment. Skidelsky also succeeds when summarizing Keynes’s ideas in the current context. New Keynesians acknowledge their limited foresight in that economic stability is inherently destabilizing, which creates many “unknown unknowns” (in the words of Donald Rumsfeld). According to the Keynesians (and to Skidelsky), the exit from the crisis might have been quicker had there been more fiscal, rather than monetary, stimulus. In the Keynesian view, a crisis caused by a collapse in aggregate demand must be remedied by an offsetting increase in government spending – a policy that is derived directly from Keynes’s account of the Great Depression. its own national debt – the author’s tone might have been slightly different when discussing government spending. Skidelsky’s description of Keynesian policies’ track record (during the period when they were applied, i.e. between 1945 and the early 1970s) also sometimes confuses correlation and causation. Did Keynesian policies really cause the economic boom of that period, or did other factors also contribute to the expansion? It is doubtful that Keynes alone engineered the boom. For example, Skidelsky’s claim that fixed exchange rates did much to ensure strong and stable growth between 1945 and 1970 is not convincing since, in other periods, fixed exchange rates were more of a Keynes is useful not only for policy makers, but also for investors Skidelsky demonstrates how in a world where consumers and firms are focused on paying down excessive debt, it is clear that injections of cash into the economy (à la QE1 and QE2) will only have a limited effect. This failure to revive aggregate demand would lead to falling prices. Sounds familiar? Keynesian-minded investors who understood this would have made a lot of money by going long U.S. Treasury bonds in the spring and summer of 2010, when the U.S. experienced a deleveraging-induced deflationary scare, which was ultimately cured with QE2. problem than a solution, notably in the Eurozone between 2000 and today! Where Skidelsky fails to be convincing, however, is in his apparent disregard for governments’ fiscal constraints. In his enthusiastic approval of Keynesian government spending policies, he fails to consider the adverse effects of excessive government spending and the rapid build-up of government debt that can occur in the wake of recessions and stimulus programs. Had this book been written a few years from now – when Greece, Portugal and Ireland will probably have restructured their debts and when the U.S. will likely face a day of reckoning with respect to This reviewer doesn’t feel a particularly strong intellectual attachment toward either the New Classical or the New Keynesian side of the debate. Both points of views are relatively appealing, especially in their respective explanations for the recent crisis (monetary causes versus sudden collapse in aggregate demand). Both policy remedies (“QE-as-long-as-needed” and additional government spending) have their respective costs and benefits. Skidelsky is clearly a Keynesian, but this should not deter classicallyminded individuals from reading his book. The Return of the Master is a great place to start to understand the far-reaching consequences of the ideas of an architect of many of the economic policies and institutions of our day. Inquiries or comments concerning this book review can be addressed to Alex Bellefleur, Financial Economist [email protected] 514-227-7712 DISCLOSURE: INSIGHTS is prepared for circulation to institutional and sophisticated investors only and without regard to any individual’s circumstances. This report is not to be construed as a solicitation, an offer, or an investment recommendation to buy, sell or hold any securities. Any returns discussed represent past performance and are not necessarily representative of future returns, which will vary. The opinions, information, estimates and projections, and any other material presented in this document are provided as of this date and are subject to change without notice. Some of the opinions, information, estimates and projections, and other material presented in this document may have been obtained from numerous sources and while we have made reasonable efforts to ensure that that the content is reliable, accurate and complete, we have not independently verified the content nor do we make any representation or warranty, express or implied, in respect thereof. We accept no liability for any errors or omissions which may be contained herein and accept no liability whatsoever for any loss arising from any use of or reliance on this report or its contents. © 2011 Brockhouse & Cooper Inc. All rights reserved. This report may not be reproduced, distributed or copied, in whole or in part, in any form, without the written consent of Brockhouse & Cooper Inc. Brockhouse Cooper is the trademark of Brockhouse & Cooper Inc. Brockhouse & Cooper Inc. is a member CIPF.