Paribas Asset Management (BNPP AM) has rolled out the Multi-Asset, Quantitative and Solutions (MAQS) investment group, in a move to streamline its organisational structure and enhance its range of investment solutions.
MAQS, which combines teams from Theam, CamGestion and Multi-Asset Solutions, is one of BNPP AM's four investment groups, alongside Private Debt & Real Assets, Equities and Fixed Income. The MAQS offering is built around the bank's range of investment products and solutions within multi-asset, structured and quantitative management.
Led by Denis Panel (pictured), Theam's chief executive, the new investment group aims to offer 'quantamental management, combining quantitative expertise with fundamental research capabilities, with risk management at the core of its investment philosophy'. The goal to more closely meet investors' changing requirements is also reflected in the inclusion of environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria in the development of investment solutions offered by MAQS, according to Panel.
"In a changing world, investors are seeking investment solutions that better address their specific needs, whether greater protection against the risks of market volatility or strategies that meet regulatory constraints," said Panel. "Combining our capabilities into a single investment group will allow us to better meet investors' needs by generating alpha and revenue, protecting capital, controlling risk and providing beta exposure."
According to Panel, the creation of MAQS will help meet the growing needs of investors seeking innovative solutions in an environment of uncertainty and polarising demand between low-cost management such as indexed products, and high value-added products that encompass risk management, such as factor management and customised solutions.
With more than €110bn of assets under management (at the end of September 2017), the new investment group has 130 employees in France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Italy, the UK and Hong Kong, and covers both institutional and retail investors.
The new group has four main areas of expertise: multi-asset, led by Christophe Moulin; quantitative and index-based management, led by Isabelle Bourcier; structured investments, led by Gilles David (below); and solutions & client advisory, led by Anton Wouters, which offers tailored solutions for pension funds and insurance companies.
According to David, the newly-created MAQS investment group, combining the expertise of the company's existing multi-asset, structured and quantitative & index teams, will enable better cross-fertilisation of ideas and result in innovative new products.
"We are starting to see renewed appetite from retail customers for capital protected funds in the Italian and French markets," said David, adding that funds that benefit from capital protection address investors’ concerns about rising volatility and the risk of a market reversal. "A key challenge will be to help investors to preserve their capital in the event of an economic and market reversal, and one area that we are exploring is a frequent rolling protection mechanism with a tailored risk budget, which offers exposure to market upside while limiting maximum drawdown."
MAQS will leverage the BNP Paribas' technology and proprietary research methodology, developed in partnership with BNPP AM's Quant Research Group. 'Underpinning all these capabilities is active risk management, which is at the core of the investment process, in order to meet the dual requirements of income and capital protection for clients who are now paying particularly close attention to risk-adjusted returns,' according to the bank.
The new investment group will also strengthen the partnership with BNP Paribas's Global Markets division in relation to quantitative management.
BNP Paribas has claimed the second spot on the issuer ranking year to date with a 6% market share in Europe and over €3.7bn in sales. The French bank has slipped out of the top 10 issuer ranking globally in terms of sales but remains a leading provider with US$7.4bn in sales so far this year, according to SRP data. Year to date, BNPP has been the most prolific issuer with over 155,000 products marketed including non-retail, leverage and flow, worth €4.4bn, and the bank will expand its structured products book further after reaching an agreement with ING to acquire certain assets and liabilities related to the Dutch bank's structured notes business with an estimated notional value of €5bn.
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