Chief Investment Officer

Legal & General Investment Management

With tax reform on the horizon and interest rates showing signs of rising, looking deep into corporate strategies was top-of-mind for asset owners this year.

A stampede of high-profile names funded and de-risked their LDI programs over the year. Legal & General Investment Management of America (LGIMA) stood out because of its laser focus on LDI.

LDI is a stand-alone business at LGIMA, and this allows the firm to break down silos. The specialist brings more resources to bear, along with a high degree of expertise.

LGIMA offers a full suite of LDI solutions, spanning all tiers of the process. Implementation can include the firm’s cutting-edge derivative solutions, and LGIMA continues to invest heavily in the systems and personnel required to maintain and build upon its leadership in the space. In a big year for LDI, LGIMA’s focus showed.

Finalists

Goldman Sachs Asset Management NISA Investment Advisors Parametric Portfolio (Clifton)

PIMCO Prudential Russell Investments

BlackRock

BlackRock made its mark as a transition management services provider for large OCIO managers in the US. In the past year, BlackRock’s US Transition Management (TRIM) team added over 15 clients and launched offerings including The Custom Liquidity Beta Solutions (CLBS) and Tactical Investment Accounts (TIA) portfolios. CLBS uses baskets of ETFs and futures to replicate total investment policy exposures, including equities, fixed-income, commodities, and real estate, TIA gives select clients the ability to gain specific exposure to equities, fixed-income, and commodities through ETFs, treasuries, and futures, according to the firm.

“Transition management is critical to many of our clients, and we are proud to be able to combine our experience and trading capabilities together with state-of-the-art technology and risk analytics [within the Aladdin platform] to provide an innovative offering,” says Paul Francis, managing director and head of BlackRock’s US TRIM team.

Finalists

Citi Northern Trust Russell Investments State Street

FactSet

In the fast-paced environment of technological innovation, Fact Set is keeping up with the times through acquisitions, strategic partnerships, and new product offerings.

The firm continues to transform itself from a workstation to a workflow provider, bolstering its traditional portfolio analytics platform with the intent of providing an all-encompassing investment tool to its clients.

Examples of the firm’s activities include the acquisitions of Vermilion Software, a global provider of client reporting and communications software; and BISAM, a provider of portfolio performance, and attribution and multi-asset risk analysis.

The firm also forged strategic partnerships with MSCI ESG research and Informa Global Market to expand its market intelligence across certain asset classes, and with the global consulting firm Mercer, just to name a few.

Finalists

BlackRock Bloomberg Clearwater Analytics PitchBook

Generation Investment Management

Given the proliferation of product and attention
towards the sustainable invest-
ment landscape, few players
emerge as leaders within the
space and Generation Invest-
ment Management is among
them. It is the firm’s integrated
approach to environmental,
social, and governance
investing and the caliber of
the team that sustains the
firm within the “crème de la
crème.”
Generation’s “truly
long-term approach, depth,
and thoughtfulness about
sustainability as a market
driver within their investment
decision process,” is why
one CIO recently increased
commitments to the firm’s
Global Equity Fund.

“Their visioning for long-term economic trends and having both investment and non-investment professionals adds to the diversification of thought to their process, which has been advantageous to their clients,” the CIO said. The firm’s solid returns speak for themselves.