risks.

The following risks may be materially relevant but may not always be adequately captured by the summary risk indicator and may cause additional loss: Credit risk, Liquidity risk, Risks linked to the use of derivatives and financial techniques and Concentration risk.

glossary.

Swiss franc bonds

Focus on active, customer-oriented and sustainability-aligned investment solutions 
 

Our active and sustainability-aligned investment solutions give you access to the entire CHF bond universe. We focus on government bonds as well as corporate bonds across all rating categories and sectors and can thus reflect any investment preferences.

 

why Swiss franc bonds?

Swiss bonds represent much more than just a return stabilizer for an overall investment portfolio. Due to the specific market characteristics, Swiss bonds are predestined for active investment solutions without having to forego excellent debt quality. 

The Swiss corporate bond segment in particular is characterized by excellent diversification of interest rate and credit risks and offers a particularly large number of opportunities, especially in the current market environment. It’s our belief that a challenging market with performance setbacks offers the greatest opportunities for active solutions. After all, price distortions lead to the very opportunities that active managers need to add value

investment process.

Key to our active investment process is separating performance generation (alpha) and benchmark replication (beta).

With this approach, we seek market inefficiencies with the aim of generating excess returns. Identifying alpha opportunities and generating excess returns – for example, among bonds with ratings lower than BBB- – requires a completely different skill set from that required to capture beta by tracking a benchmark. That is why our investment process is based on a strict separation of these factors.

diverse team, diverse alpha.

The breadth of expertise across our teams allows us to harness diverse ideas from across all key fixed income specialisms.

Risk budgets are dynamically allocated across strategies. Our portfolio managers then generate trade ideas according to their specialisation and skill set. These complementary skills of our investment specialists aim to ensure a large diversification of alpha sources, contributing positively to the portfolio sustainability
 

sustainability integration.

We use three key tools throughout our investment process, ensuring sustainability is embedded in the final portfolio. 

We use negative screening, to systematically (and conditionally) exclude companies which do not meet our criteria for portfolio inclusion. Using our proprietary ESG tools and techniques, we can also positively screen for best-in-class companies and impact bonds associated with the transition to the net-zero economy. 

Finally, through an active and constructive dialogue with companies that are not yet aligning their business model sufficiently with their social and ecological responsibility, we endeavour to understand, improve and, if necessary, change their sustainability approach.

why LOIM for Swiss Fixed Income?

  • Consistent outperformance with outstanding and long-standing track records1.
    Since the launch of our fund range in 2008, we have significantly outperformed the relevant benchmarks almost every year. Our flagship product – the Swiss Franc Credit Bond Strategy– was launched in 2008 and is one of the first active investment solutions in the area of CHF corporate bonds.

  • A proprietary, disciplined, sound and sustainability-aligned investment process. 
    We believe that finding investment opportunities requires different skills than those needed to replicate a benchmark. Therefore we separate the benchmark replication and performance generation and make efficient use of the diverse and broad knowledge of our investment specialists. We do not believe in the added value of consensus committees and decisions and hand over responsibility directly to the investment specialists, who are allowed to apply their knowledge on their own responsibility within a given risk budget. Our credit analysts not only write reports on issuers, but also apply their knowledge directly as portfolio managers, resulting in better and more efficient decisions.

  • A team of investment experts with many years of experience.
    Our investment specialists are characterized by many years of experience, specific and complimentary knowledge, a high degree of personal responsibility, perseverance in the search for optimal investment solutions and curiosity about new investment strategies. We avoid the risk of inertia that comes from too much stability by constantly rethinking and expanding our investment solutions.

  • Clear commitment to sustainable investment solutions.
    We pursue a transparent sustainability approach, combining our established investment process with a comprehensive sustainability analysis. As a Swiss sustainability pioneer and due to our large in-house capacities in this field, we aim to remain ahead of the curve with regard to sustainability in the investment industry. 

1Target performance/risk represents a portfolio construction goal. It does not represent past performance/risk and may not be representative of actual future performance/risk.

the reasons that speak for us.

  • Outstanding and long-standing track records for active investment solutions
  • Access to experienced and dedicated investment specialists
  • Recognized provider of customized investment solutions for institutional clients
  • Broad network: We are an established player in the CHF capital market and have access to many issuers and new issues
  • Proactive customer service and excellent as well as customized reportings
  • Multiple award winning manager (Lipper, Morningstar, Citywire)

 

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These ratings may change over time.

investment team.

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Sandro Croce
CIO Fixed Income

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Markus Thöny
Head of Swiss Fixed Income

 

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David Perez
Senior Portfolio Manager and Credit Analyst

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    Flavio Schuster
Portfolio Manager and Credit Analyst

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Philipp Burckhardt
Senior Portfolio Manager and Credit Analyst

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Giovanni Bizzozero
Junior Portfolio Manager

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Marco Di Fante
Client Portfolio Manager

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insights.

Swiss bonds: the benefits vs foreign-currency bonds
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Swiss bonds: the benefits vs foreign-currency bonds

We compare CHF-denominated bonds with foreign-currency bonds to assess what might make the most sense for Swiss investors.  

Can the SNB pause now?
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Can the SNB pause now?

The Swiss National Bank once again chose to lower interest rates at its June meeting. What does the move reflect about the SNB’s views on inflation and growth, and should we expect more cuts? 

Managing liquidity risk in Swiss bond portfolios
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Managing liquidity risk in Swiss bond portfolios

Swiss bond portfolios are always exposed to a certain amount of liquidity risk, even though the market trades daily. We outline how to adequately manage these risks.

Why the unexpected Swiss interest-rate cut?
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Why the unexpected Swiss interest-rate cut?

The Swiss National Bank surprised with an interest rate cut at its March meeting. What drove monetary policy and how does it impact fixed income investors?

Swiss bonds: how important are credit ratings?
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Swiss bonds: how important are credit ratings?

Credit ratings are an important indicator, but they are just one piece of the puzzle for bond investors. We explain the shortcomings and why investment decisions should not be based on ratings alone. 

In language and forecasts, a dovish Swiss turn
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In language and forecasts, a dovish Swiss turn

From the inflation outlook to the balance sheet, we analyse what fixed income investors need to know about the Swiss National Bank monetary policy meeting.

important information.

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