Motif's thematic indices are designed to capture impact of global themes shaping the economic landscape through structured investments
Motif Capital, the wholly-owned investment advisor subsidiary of Motif Investing, and Goldman Sachs have entered into an exclusive agreement to license and deploy Motif Capital's thematic indices through structured investments issued by Goldman Sachs. The structured investments under the scope of the agreement will be aimed at capturing the impact of global themes such as 'aging of America'.
Hardeep Walia, CEO of Motif said that through this initiative with Goldman Sachs, the firm's portfolios with customizable risk features and unique thematic approach will be available "for purchase on additional platforms for the first time".
Under the agreement Goldman Sachs will leverage its structured investment offering while Motif Capital will provide its "disciplined, systematic and transparent approaches to thematic investing". These structured investments will provide investors with access to thematic index construction through innovative investment vehicles that are able to map various market expectations and appetites for risk.
"We believe their innovative approach to thematic investing will broaden our structured investment offering and allow our clients to capitalize on long-term trends shaping the global economy," said Jason Broder (pictured), managing director and head of the Private Investor Products Group in the Americas at Goldman Sachs, in a statement.
According to Walia, Motif's range of thematic indices will diversify Goldman Sachs' structured investment offering and continues the extension of 'Motif Everywhere', an initiative to deploy Motif Capital's unique systematic approach to thematic investing in alternate financial products and platforms.
The collaboration announcement follows an agreement between Motif Capital and Global Atlantic Financial Group's investment adviser subsidiary, Global Atlantic Investment Advisors, under which Global Atlantic Investment Advisors has selected Motif Capital to sub-advise three new insurance trust mutual funds for variable annuities.
The funds will be offered through variable annuity products, blending tax-deferral with thematic portfolios built and sub-advised by Motif Capital.
"Our ability to offer these funds to our variable annuity clients gives them an attractive new allocation alternative while further differentiating Global Atlantic in the marketplace," said Rob Arena, president, Global Atlantic Retirement and Life, in a statement.
These new funds are expected to be available through Global Atlantic's variable annuity platform beginning in the third quarter this year.
Goldman Sachs is one of the main providers of structured notes in the US market with a 12% market share across US$1.8bn worth of sales year to date. In 2015, the US bank had the third highest market share in the country (11%/US$5.bbn). Year to date, Goldman Sachs has marketed 376 products including 294 structured notes and 82 market-linked certificates of deposit (CD). The most utilised underlying by Goldman Sachs so far this year has been the S&P 500 which has been featured in 134 products, followed by the GS Momentum Builder Multi-Asset ER Index (66 products), and the Eurostoxx50 (55 products).
Motif Capital is an specialist investment manager offering thematic investment strategies for financial institutions such as private wealth management, investment companies, endowments, and family offices including structural/long-term trends such as mobile computing and energy; cyclical trends such as rising interest rates and falling oil prices; event driven strategies such as policy changes and geopolitical events; as well as innovation themes (self-driving cars, wearable technology) and impact investing (water conservation, battling cancer).
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