Multi-Asset Solutions Research Capabilities and Innovation
Learn how qualitative and quantitative research and sustainability are core to how we manage portfolios
Hi, I'm Jed Laskowitz, Global Head of Asset Management Solutions. As we enter a new decade, multi asset investors are facing unparalleled return challenges. Balanced portfolios will achieve less than half of the returns of the last decade, driven by low interest rates and stretched valuations, making asset allocation decisions more important than ever before.
Simply put, investors need to think about a new portfolio for a new decade. Our team of dedicated multi-asset investors have diverse skills and experiences and backgrounds and have the expertise to help you confront this challenge.
Now it all starts with a holistic understanding of our client's needs. From there, deep research insights, combined with the breadth of the JP Morgan Asset Management investment platform, allow us to access opportunities across any asset class or strategy globally.
This results in flexible portfolios that solve for a range of objectives with the ability to quickly adapt to changing market environments. Now, the trust our clients place in us is paramount. And this confidence is built on the results we've delivered in the past and the strategic investments we are making for the future to better serve our clients.
We're developing cutting edge technology to enhance portfolio management, risk, research, and client reporting capabilities in our proprietary portfolio management system spectrum. We're focused on attracting and retaining top talent who bring a diversity of thought and experience to our already globally diverse team.
We're expanding our investment in research capabilities into new markets, including a large strategic investment in China, which will be a key competitive advantage and investment insight in our multi-asset class portfolios. And lastly, we are embedding environmental, social, and governance considerations into all of our solutions to drive better outcomes for our clients and for the planet.
Now our multi-asset solutions team is well-equipped to help our clients confront this return challenge head on. And we're committed to delivering the full resources of JP Morgan to help our clients meet their goals.
Hello. My name is John Bilton. I'm Global Head of Multi-Asset Strategy. Within multi-asset solutions, at the heart of what we do, is we think about macro themes and investing in the macro environment around the globe. With such a huge range of global economies and global asset markets to consider, research is a central and critical piece to our investment framework.
Over the last few years, we made a lot of investment into quantitative, qualitative, and manager research, the three interconnected pillars of our research franchise. Across those three pillars, we all do different things. But ultimately, these are complementary, both to one another and to the wider investment process.
Quantitative research looks at harnessing the signals from a huge data set. It's a dimension reduction exercise, in many regards. And what we're looking for is ultimately a sort of precedent and an objective read of the data that we're seeing at any given point.
Qualitative research is very judgment based. We look at the future. We think about where policy, macro trends, asset returns, may fall in the future. And ultimately, how to invest in, ultimately, those themes and those ideas. Manager research complements both of the other two strands, providing a bottom up reinforcement of the ideas and the themes in which we're investing.
In addition to the research that we do on a day to day basis, we also have our long term capital market assumptions program. Without being unduly modest here, this is a huge and complimentary piece of work that involves both the multi-asset solution research teams and our peers from around JP Morgan Asset Management.
It's something we've been doing for 25 years. We now cover more than 200 asset classes in 16 different currencies. And we rely upon this piece of work to tell us what we think the fair risk and returns are, across all of our asset markets in our opportunity set are likely to be in the years to come.
Ultimately, we believe that there will be some period of lower returns ahead of us. And it's through our research functions that we are able to look at new ways and innovative ways to deliver returns without taking on unacceptable levels of risk in our portfolios. And this is really the guts of what we are looking to deliver across the wide MAS research platform.
Hello. I'm Katherine Santiago, Global Head of Asset Allocation Research. The role of quantitative research team is to prepare portfolio managers to take advantage of market dynamics, help drive better performance, and to understand the risk they're taking in their portfolios.
We do this through building time tested models which utilize innovative ways of looking at data and identifying risks in the portfolio. Our focus is on providing tools for the portfolio managers to better size their positions. So if things go the wrong way for one position or view, it won't overshadow the alpha created for all the other positions in the portfolio.
So consider the task of climbing Mount Everest. To be successful, you need a robust team covering several different responsibilities. First, you need highly skilled climbers to lead the team. But you also need a strong team of specialists focused on the details.
Certain members help ensure the pack on your back is lean and efficient and your gear is complete. Others have a keen understanding of the challenges posed by the current weather and the terrain based on their time tested knowledge of past climbs. This team, focused on different but complementary elements working together, is very similar to how our research teams, both quant and qual, work together to help portfolio managers manage risk and achieve better performance.
So how do we actually do this? Our quantitative research team is a large group of diverse researchers with backgrounds in AI and machine learning, mathematics, and economics. We build models and tools alongside the portfolio managers. We are not often a silo working on our own. A key to our success lies in our real time interaction and in-depth understanding of the portfolio management teams.
We engage in innovative research that can give us a clearer picture of the markets and economy. For example, given the vast footprint of JP Morgan Chase, we have the unique ability to look deep into the data of how Americans spend. We can see how shifting employment rates and income changes can drive current and future spending.
This provides us with insight into how to take and where future growth might take place. From here, we build tools which allow the portfolio managers to stress test their inputs, to better understand what risks they're taking, and as they think about which positions to take in the portfolio.
2019 provides a great example of this. We saw signs of a disconnect in correlations of stocks and bonds, which we brought to the attention of our portfolio managers. The managers were then able to extend duration, balance their equity allocation, and capture gains that may have been overlooked. This ended up being one of the bigger contributors to performance for that year.
Sustainability is core to how we manage portfolios. And across our solutions business, we integrate environmental, social, and governance considerations into all of our investment decisions. This helps mitigate risk but also helps us lean in to some of the innovative and exciting sustainable opportunities that will drive growth through the cycle.
We also focus on developing dedicated sustainable research. For example, addressing the question of, how would climate change impact investment portfolios? When we think about addressing climate change, we're going to need to see a meaningful reduction in the use of fossil fuels. But also, an increase, in terms of our use of renewable energy sources.
And this is going to have a direct and financial impact on companies and our clients' portfolios. That's why we've developed a robust investment framework that helps us evaluate company's readiness for this transition to a low carbon world. Looking at their emissions, their management of resources, and their management of risks, to help lower emissions, lean in to innovative climate solutions opportunities, and build stronger portfolios for a low carbon world.