• Home
  • Equities
  • Fixed Income
  • Alternative Investments
  • Multi-Asset
  • Passive
  • Thematic
  • Events
  • Market Intelligence
  • Investment Week
  • ESG Spotlight
  • Thematics Spotlight
  • Newsletters
  • Sign in
    • You are currently accessing Investment Europe via your Enterprise account.

      If you already have an account please use the link below to sign in.

      If you have any problems with your access or would like to request an individual access account please contact our customer service team.

      Phone: +44 (0) 1858 438800

      Email: [email protected]

      • Sign in
     
      • Account details
      • Newsletters
      • Contact support
      • Sign out
     
  • Follow us
    • Twitter
    • LinkedIn
    • Newsletters
  • Register
  • Events
    • Upcoming events
      event logo
      Women in Investment Festival 2020

      Investment Week, Professional Adviser, Professional Pensions, Retirement Planner and Investment Europe have collaborated to launch the Women in Investment Festival 2020, in partnership with HSBC Global Asset Management.

      • Date: 03 Mar 2020
      • The Brewery 52 Chiswell Street London EC1Y 4SD, London
      event logo
      Milan Forum 2020

      InvestmentEurope's 10th annual Milan Forum will take place on 5th March at the Four Seasons Hotel, Milan.

      • Date: 05 Mar 2020
      • Four Seasons Hotel Milan Via Gesù, 6/8, 20121 Milano MI, Italy, Milan
      event logo
      Nordic Summit Stockholm 2020

      InvestmentEurope's Nordic Summit 2020 will take place on 10-11 March at the Grand Hôtel Stockholm.

      • Date: 10 Mar 2020
      • Grand Hôtel, Stockholm Södra Blasieholmshamnen 8 103 27 Stockholm Sweden, Stockholm
      event logo
      Frabelux Forum 2020

      The 3rd edition of the Frabelux Forum will be held on Thursday, 19th March at the Ritz Hotel in Paris

      • Date: 19 Mar 2020
      • The Ritz, Paris
      View all events
  • Investment Week
  • ESG Spotlight
  • Thematics Spotlight
Investment Europe
Investment Europe

Sponsored by

Sharing Alpha
  • Home
  • Equities
  • Fixed Income
  • Alternative Investments
  • Multi-Asset
  • Passive
  • Thematic
  • You are currently accessing Investment Europe via your Enterprise account.

    If you already have an account please use the link below to sign in.

    If you have any problems with your access or would like to request an individual access account please contact our customer service team.

    Phone: +44 (0) 1858 438800

    Email: [email protected]

    • Sign in
 
    • Account details
    • Newsletters
    • Contact support
    • Sign out
 

Avoid the complexity

Avoid the complexity
  • Adrien Paredes-Vanheule
  • 13 June 2016
  • Tweet  
  • Facebook  
  • LinkedIn  
  • Send to  

Bart van de Ven, investment adviser at Accuro Independent Private Bankers, describes the firm’s fund selection process.

Antwerp based Accuro relies on a team of 12 individuals including nine advisers of which four are directly involved in fund selection like Bart van de Ven.

Related articles

  • DNCA multi-management chief favours entrepreunarial boutiques
  • Exclusive: New French boutique reveals development plans
  • Financière Galilée’s fund selection head reveals FoF bets
  • Exclusive: New Paris boutique reveals ambitions, launches first fund

The independent advisory firm invests either directly in equities and bonds, in tracker funds or in actively managed funds.

Funds represent 60% of the investments made by Accuro. Around 50 strategies have a spot on the buy list, all being invested in bonds or equities.

Accuro excludes alternative strategies from the selection.

“We try to avoid unnecessary complexity. We do not advise in structured products, alternative or smart beta funds. Complex products are often expensive, not transparent and, last but not least, performance disappointments.

“We typically do not invest in infrastructure or distressed securities. Our clients have long-term objectives and we help them to achieve these objectives by working alongside them on long-term strategies,” says van de Ven.

Accuro looks at the quants side through screenings of Morningstar’s data before conducting a qualitative due diligence.

“Our analysis starts with an algorithmic based analysis. This quantitative analysis is only approximately 20% of the analysis work. The big chunk of our analysis is qualitative.”

“We want to find out whether a strategy is able to continue generating strong performance going forward. We go deep in understanding the investment process and the thinking of the people. We talk to the portfolio managers and ask the right questions,” van de Ven points out.

Among other red flags for an investment in a fund, van de Ven picks up fund size and style drift.

CONCERNS AND MOVES
“Fund size can be a red flag. Multiple studies show fast rising AUM can destroy alpha,” he says.

Van de Ven explains that he recently met a European equities fund manager whose strategy had an excellent track record mainly driven by catching alpha on mid-caps.

But as the fund size increased to over €4bn, the strategy’s outperformance flipped into a dramatic underperformance.

“The portfolio manager decided to dispose of some subfunds under the same strategy. These disposals plus outflows from disappointed investors led to a decrease in assets to a manageable size. A year later the fund turned back to outperformance,” van de Ven says.

He adds: “Style drift is another concern. Today lots of highly-ranked funds run a similar style: quality growth. I like the style but we should analyse why those funds rank highly.

“Is the outperformance explained by the style only, or is the strategy working in different markets? We want to avoid the one-trick pony.”

To that end, Accuro’s fund selection results in a mix of small boutiques and big global asset managers.

“We have selected big players for our global bond strategy. We think being big in global bonds is a huge advantage. Small boutiques can be more appropriate for example in European equities. Sometimes small is beautiful, sometimes big is better,” van de Ven highlights.

Regarding moves on the buy list, van de Ven says Accuro has removed some bond funds.

“Low or negative yields in the European bonds market make most bonds unattractive for our clients. We prefer to stay in cash.

“We also added a global high yield bond fund run by a manager with a broad global mandate. The manager has the skills and flexibility to go where you get rewarded for taking risk.”

FEES
Accuro charges an advisory fee to its clients. Van de Ven says the firm keeps its overheads low and makes sure there are no hidden costs embedded in products.

Accuro’s investment adviser highlights studies that have found out funds that can afford to ask above average fees tend to be future underperformers. Regarding fees, he also stresses regional differences.

“The total expense ratio of French funds are typically above average. Management fees often exceed 2%.

“A fund of a French boutique we invest in since some time ago offers two entities with the same strategy; one French domiciled and the other Irish domiciled.

“We invest for our clients in the Irish domiciled fund, a 1% total expense ratio benefit for our clients,” van de Ven concludes.

BIO

Bart van de Ven is investment adviser at Accuro Independent Private Bankers in Antwerp, Belgium.

He is also member of the Accuro Investment Committee and responsible for fund selection.

Van de Ven has 20 years of experience in private banking. He worked for 10 years at UBS in Belgium as a director and prior to this 10 years at ING in the Netherlands in several private banking roles.

Van de Ven holds a Certified European Financial Analyst (CeFA) degree.

  • Tweet  
  • Facebook  
  • LinkedIn  
  • Send to  
  • Topics
  • Belgium
  • Fund selection
Back to Top

Most read

Swiss regulator proposes sanctions against GAM for not disclosing liabilities
Swiss regulator proposes sanctions against GAM for not disclosing liabilities
Deutsche Bank unveils ESG multi-asset fund exclusively in Spain
Deutsche Bank unveils ESG multi-asset fund exclusively in Spain
Fidelity International appoints global CIO for asset management unit
Fidelity International appoints global CIO for asset management unit
PGIM Investments makes Benelux, Switzerland and UK push
PGIM Investments makes Benelux, Switzerland and UK push
Thematics AM CIO, CEO outline investment objectives
Thematics AM CIO, CEO outline investment objectives
  • Contact Us
  • Marketing solutions
  • About Incisive Media
  • Terms and conditions
  • Policies
  • Careers
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Newsletters

© Incisive Business Media (IP) Limited, Published by Incisive Business Media Limited, New London House, 172 Drury Lane, London WC2B 5QR, registered in England and Wales with company registration numbers 09177174 & 09178013

Digital publisher of the year
Digital publisher of the year 2010, 2013, 2016 & 2017
Loading