HEAD-TO-HEAD: JP Morgan vs Standard Life Investments

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Manager review

The JP Morgan fund is managed by a London-based team led by James Elliot, chief investment officer for the multi-asset solutions team, and Shrenick Shah. Elliot and Shah have been the lead portfolio managers for this strategy since the fund’s inception in 2012.

Talib Sheikh, who was also on the multi-asset solutions team, left the firm in February. He had been focused on fixed income positioning in the fund.

Despite the departure of one of the lead managers, Goldsmith believes the overall management remains sound. The reason for his positive outlook is that Sheikh had been well supported by the firm’s fixed income specialists and economists who are located in London and New York.

The portfolio management team is also supported by 15 research analysts and a five-person technology-specific research team.

“The key people in portfolio management make most of the decisions over the desk rather than going through an investment committee. It gives a rather nimble decision-making process when compared to the SLI fund,” he said.

For the SLI fund, there is a lead manager, Guy Stern, the global head of multi-asset and macro investing.

Stern works closely with fellow portfolio managers Roger Sadewsky, Adam Rudd and Neil Richardson and Brian Fleming, who collectively make decisions for the fund, according to Goldsmith.

The 12-member global strategy group contributes the economic and thematic framework to support investment idea generation for the portfolio management team. The group is under a bigger team multi-asset and macro investing team which is comprised of around 120 people.

Goldsmith said the team brings consistency to the fund. They stick to the process that has been used since inception, despite several departures of key team members.

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