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COVER STORY: PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT POWERHOUSES DEREK MASSEY
MICHAEL A. PRITTIE
Head of portfolio management HSBC GLOBAL ASSET MANAGEMENT (CANADA)
Senior financial advisor and portfolio manager MANDEVILLE PRIVATE CLIENT
Years in the industry: 24 Years as a PM: 20 Industry accreditations: CFA Typical clients: High-networth private clients
HSBC Global Asset Management, as its name suggests, is an operation with international reach. As Derek Massey explains, this brings certain benefits. “We have investment experts located in 26 countries and territories around the world that evaluate capital markets,” he says. “Our recent valuation work has led us to take some profits in equities across Canada and globally and redeploy the proceeds to fixed income and cash.” Massey joined HSBC Global Asset Management in 2014 and currently oversees the private client management team. As such, he is responsible for HSBC’s distribution channels, as well as communicating strategy internally to staff and externally to clients and the media. When it comes to stocks, that strategy means taking advantage of HSBC’s global
“We seek to invest in the best businesses, but just as important is that we need to pay the right price for that business” footprint to identify the best companies. “Our process is to first evaluate a company, then we evaluate the company as an investment,” he says. “We seek to invest in the best businesses, but just as important is that we need to pay the right price for that business.” Having started his investment career in 1993, Massey rose through the ranks to become the principal and vice-president at Martin, Lucas & Seagram. There, he managed discretionary portfolios for family groups, charitable foundations, estates and trusts, which led him to his current position with HSBC. The investment climate has changed a great deal since he first broke into the business 24 years ago in terms of the sophistication of clients, the product lineup and regulatory oversight. While this has made the job more challenging, Massey says he welcomes any changes that can improve standards in the profession.
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Years in the industry: 30 Years as a PM: 3.5 Industry accreditations: CFP, CIM, CPCA, FCSI, CIWM Typical clients: Cross-section of business owners, wealthy retirees and high-income earners
Michael Prittie is a portfolio manager at Mandeville Private Client, so it’s not surprising that alternatives are a major part of his investment strategy. Mandeville chairman and CEO Michael LeeChin is a noted disciple of bringing private equity to the masses – a belief Prittie also subscribes to. “Over the last decade, privates/ alternatives have produced some very rewarding benefits for my clients,” he says. “I am fortunate to have access to some worldclass private/alternative solutions that have excellent income and stability, while others are focused on long-term growth.” The bond markets are another area Prittie is increasingly fond of, given current stock valuations in North America. “Since January, we have been tilting our portfolios towards additional fixed-income investments,” he says. “Where new funds are not available or not sufficient, we are rebalancing – trimming some equity and buying private and public fixed-income solutions.” This change in strategy comes as the main indices have reached record levels, but Prittie is preparing for stocks to hit a wall in the near future. “While I don’t believe anyone can time the market,” he says, “I feel now is an excellent time to rebalance portfolios back to their original targets – reducing equity and enhancing income – given the equity returns over the past eight years.” Using a fee-based platform for his clients, Prittie believes recent moves by regulators to increase transparency are a step in the right direction, but that the industry still needs to do more
“While I don’t believe anyone can time the market, I feel now is an excellent time to rebalance portfolios back to their original targets, given the equity returns over the past eight years” to protect the interests of clients. “We need enhancement and further development of CRM2 to not only show what an advisor earns in trailing commissions,” he says, “but to also to show the client how much money is coming out of their pockets, whether through commissions, MERs, sales charges, fee-based costs and/or trustee fees.”
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5/05/2017 4:13:13 AM