Fixed Income

BlackRock Winner
For the firm’s innovative team led by Tim Webb and Rick Rieder,its ability to find opportunities through “best-in-class analytics”and “proprietary research and innovative market analysis,” and itsunique tiered approach to manage portfolio liquidity risk.

Wellington Management Company
For its presence as an industry stalwart in the asset class with nearlyhalf a trillion dollars in assets under management—and sophisticatedproprietary tools for risk and liquidity management.

Equities (Including alternative equity beta)

Parametric Winner
For its Volatility Risk Premium strategy that is “designed to harvestdiversifying risk premium without the use of leverage, markettiming, or active bets on the direction of market volatility”—andthat can be used as a liquid alternative.

TOBAM
For its Maximum Diversification strategy, an “innovative quantitativeinvestment approach” that aims to boost diversification whilelowering risks concentrated in market cap-weighted indexes—andfor its persistent emphasis on research.

Multi-Asset (Including risk-balanced strategies)

BlackRock
For hiring Andrew Ang, a renowned scholar in risk-factor investing,and its continued advances in the Market Advantage strategy, aswell as the development of the Style Advantage strategy, whichsystematically leverages 16 long/short style factors to deliver “hedgefund-like benefits” using liquid vehicles.

Columbia Threadneedle Investments
For its “adaptive risk parity approach” led by Jeff Knight that advocatesadaptable risk allocation based on market conditions–and itscourage to stray from the classic parity approach.

Renaissance Technologies
For its multi-asset funds that are not only based on the firm’s highlyquantitative background, but also offer fee and liquidity termsthat are “more investor-friendly than those offered by most inthe industry,” according to one nominator. “They should be anexample for the rest of the industry.”

Risk Premium Investment Management Company Winner
For its “groundbreaking” investment analytics and portfolio managementbased on the liquid and low-cost “pure risk-factor investment”approach. “RPIMCo shows how risk factors can/should be a part ofthe portfolio, not a hedge fund strategy,” says a nominator.