Indexbeleggen als startpunt voor een actieve portefeuille
Dankzij de samenwerking met BlackRock Portfolio Analysis and Solutions (BPAS) kunnen doelgerichte beleggers zich onderscheiden door:
- een groter gebruik van indexbeleggen,
- een groter gebruik van minder liquide en op alpha gerichte strategieën
- een weloverwogen combinatie en afwisseling van deze beleggingsinstrumenten
We hebben dan ook gezien dat beleggers de laatste jaren steeds meer gebruik gaan maken van indexstrategieën3, waarbij zowel distributeurs als eindbeleggers in toenemende mate een andere kijk krijgen op de rol en waarde van indexinstrumenten.
Beleggingsrisico. De waarde van beleggingen en de opgebrachte inkomsten kunnen variëren. Het is niet zeker dat je je oorspronkelijke inleg terugontvangt.
Verander van koers: Ga meer indexbeleggen
Indexbeleggingen gaan een steeds grotere rol spelen in beleggingsportefeuilles. Dat sluit aan bij de enorme groei die de ETF-markt in de afgelopen tien jaar heeft doorgemaakt. De eigenschappen die ETF’s vanaf het allereerste begin populair hebben gemaakt – precisie, flexibiliteit en lage kosten – worden door een groeiende groep beleggers opgemerkt.
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tijd besparen
Een portefeuille opbouwen vraagt tijd. Naarmate het aantal aangeboden producten toeneemt, kost het steeds meer moeite om de hele markt in het oog te houden en de beste mogelijkheden te selecteren.
Indexbeleggen kan beleggers gedeeltelijk ontlasten van de taak om continu te zoeken naar beheerders met de beste perspectieven, zodat je meer tijd overhoudt om instrumenten te vinden die reële alpha kunnen bieden op specifieke niveaus van de portefeuille.
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risico’s overzien
Eén van belangrijkste aspecten van een succesvolle portefeuille-opbouw is inzicht in de risico’s die van invloed zijn. In tegenstelling tot het rendement, zijn deze eenvoudiger in kaart te brengen en te beheersen.
Indexbeleggen geeft je meer controle over het portefeuillerisico, omdat er minder risico is op een afwijking tussen de beoogde portefeuille (de strategische asset allocatie of de visie van de Chief Investment Officer) en de gerealiseerde portefeuille.
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kosten verlagen
De toegenomen behoefte aan kostentransparantie, gecombineerd met een beter begrip van de factoren die bepalend zijn voor het rendement van een portefeuille, heeft ertoe geleid dat indexbeleggen voor meer en meer beleggers een voor de hand liggende keuze is.
Indexbeleggen leidt niet alleen tot lagere portefeuillekosten, maar biedt ook de mogelijkheid om efficiëntere manieren te vinden om gelijksoortige uitkomsten te realiseren.
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Op zoek naar houvast in de portefeuille
Lees er meer over in onze casestudy's en ontdek hoe >BlackRock Portfolio Analysis & Solutions (BPAS) je kan helpen om een doelgerichte, efficiënter gespreide portefeuille op te bouwen.
Lees de case study >
BlackRock Portfolio Analysis and Solutions is een team van zeer deskundige beleggingsconsultants die beleggers toonaangevende instrumenten, analyses en inzichten willen bieden, om ze in staat te stellen betere beleggingsbeslissingen te nemen en een nieuwe visie op de opbouw van hun portefeuille te ontwikkelen.
3Bron: BlackRock Portfolio Analysis and Solutions, van januari 2017 t/m april 2021.
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Save time with indexing
It takes time, skill and effort to determine which managers deliver true alpha, and to continually monitor and review their performance.
As the number of products available to investors increase, the cost compounds. There are currently 136,752 different funds within Europe1, a growth of 43% from 2009. There is also a large dispersion of assets under management (AUM), which suggests there is no single consistently performing manager.
Index for alpha
In reality, there is no ‘right’ choice, at least not in the long term. Based on an extensive study of 4,500 alpha managers across 21 asset classes between 1997 and 20172, BlackRock Investment Institute (BII) looked at performance persistency of alpha managers within the top quartile over 5 year periods. A meaningful persistency probability would be above 25%. Interestingly, this is only the case for a few asset classes based on the set of confidence bands. The probability highlighted that the selection of a ‘good’ manager could not be set apart from a random probability.
Research from SPIVA3 showed that few firms remain at the top over the long run. Over 5 years, only 27% US equity managers within the top quartile in 2013 remained in the top quartile in 2018. For high yield funds the figure was 28%.
In other words, to build portfolios with consistently top performing managers involves high turnover. This constant search, selection, performance assessment and reselection is a considerable governance cost that should be taken into consideration.
Investors who do not have the capacity to research and regularly monitor their alpha seeking managers may be better to consolidate the number of alpha seeking managers in their portfolio and consider greater index selection. These choices will help to make portfolio monitoring more efficient and minimise implementation, transaction and increasing governance costs.
1 Source: Morningstar, as at March 2019. The number includes share classes.
2 Source: BlackRock Investment Institute, “Blending alpha-seeking, actor and indexing strategies: a new framework”, July 2018
3 Source: S&P Persistence Scorecard, S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC, CRSP as at September 2018. High yield surveyed 144 different managers; whilst US equity managers surveyed 1988 managers.
Manage risk with indexing
One of the keys to successful portfolio construction is understanding the risks of your investment, because these can be more easily predicted and controlled. This goes beyond looking at product in a siloed approach but understanding the risk in the whole portfolio.
Often, portfolio construction practices separate asset allocation decisions from product choices. This assumes that by fitting products into an asset allocation, the risk of the portfolio will be controlled. In reality, two of the exact same asset allocations can have different risk profiles. For example, a 60/40 stock and bond portfolio4 based on index asset allocation, this would have 5 year annualised risk 7.2% in usd terms, while product implementation could cause this risk to vary from 3.5% to 11.5%5 (depending on the manager).
The blackrock portfolio analysis and solutions (bpas) team leverage the power of blackrock’s risk management platform, Aladdin to help clients understand the risk factor exposures within their portfolios. Through these interactions, we identify that often there is misalignment between risks, the bets that clients have stated they want to take and those they are actually taking. This can be because:
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Manager style drift
i.e. The evolution of alpha seeking manager choices and the strategies overtime, particularly in non-transparent vehicles. -
Over diversification of managers
i.e. Products have been chosen for a specific purpose but may contradict views expressed elsewhere in the portfolio.
Index for control
When it comes to implementing a strategic asset allocation view on a specific market or asset class, indexing can help to control risk and reduce the misalignment between the target portfolio and the implemented portfolio. It allows investors to free up risk budget to express potentially riskier tactical views and to efficiently balance risk with the potential reward.
4 Source: 60/40 Portfolio based on 60% MSCI World Index and 40% Bloomberg Barclays Global Aggregate Bond Index. Source: BlackRock, Morningstar from April 2014 - April 2019. Assumes USD-based investor. Data frequency = Monthly. 5 Source: Analysis based on all European domiciled active managers, with a 5-year track record and benchmarked to MSCI World and Bloomberg Barclays Global Aggregate Bond Index. Source: BlackRock, Morningstar from 30 April 2014 – 30 April 2019. Assumes USD-based investor. Data frequency = Monthly.
Drive Performance with Indexing
There is more pressure than ever to reduce portfolio costs. Transparency and increased scrutiny on fees are changing revenue models, while technology is creating ‘robo’ advisers and automated offerings that deliver simple and cost-efficient solutions.
“I think costs are a huge issue – clients talk about Value for Money now, that’s something that we didn’t use to have conversations around, but it’s just because costs are under the microscope across every part of the value chain. So clients squeeze us, we squeeze managers.”
- UK Wealth Manager
There is no surprise that indexing is chosen to help lower costs. The average underlying management fees are:
Beyond this, it is also important to consider the cost efficiencies of indexing. By this we refer to the concept of strategic market and style factor tilts that account for a large portion, often more than 90%, of returns generated by traditional long only equity managers. Unless a manager can capture idiosyncratic returns in excess of their management fee, it can often be more cost efficient to implement through indexing.
This is also relevant in large fund-of-fund portfolios where there are multiple active funds - often several within the same asset class. The diversification across many managers have unintendedly cancelled out positions and the potential for idiosyncratic returns, resulting in ultimately a more expensive version of the benchmark.
Index for returns
In the end, what matters most is the returns net of fees. The latest SPIVA8 report states that, net of fees, many alpha managers can underperform if they do not express strong conviction in tilts or exposures different to the benchmark.
Indexing can be an efficient way to express strategic views and control how you tilt between asset classes and factors, whilst freeing up fee budget to invest in high octane alpha and alternatives where true alpha is more likely to be rewarded.
Overall, we see that a portfolio with greater indexing coupled with true alpha-seeking and alternative managers’ results in better returns for investors.
6 Source: BlackRock Portfolio Analysis and Solutions (BPAS) Insights. Based on portfolios received from Jan 2018 – December 2018.
7 Source: BlackRock Global Business Intelligence Report, as at April 2019. Based on ETFs listed in Europe only.
8 Source: S&P Persistence Scorecard, S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC, CRSP as at September 2018.