Most people in the industry have been working remotely to counter the spread of Covid-19.
FSA asked wealth and asset management professionals to explain how they are carrying out their duties and coping when they are not in the office.
In this first feature, we hear from EFG Bank on the wealth side and TT International on the fund management side.
1.What is your daily routine?
Without a commute every day, I have a bit more time to read the market commentary in the morning and sometimes catch up on one of the numerous webinars that are offered on a daily basis. With the heightened volatility in markets, it’s valuable to read a wider range of views. Then, it’s pretty much business as usual. Most internal meetings take place via our conferencing system, including a daily team meeting which replaces to some extent the team dynamic. We of course have other tools (chat, email) at our disposal. Apart from closely watching markets and following the recommendations of the global investment strategy to give more frequent and meaningful client updates, we are keeping close contact with fund management houses, asking for explanations on any deviations in performance and liquidity conditions and sharing this with the front line.
2. Besides face-to-face meetings, what tasks can you only do in a sub-optimal way when working from home compared with working in the office?
Technology is supportive and the reactiveness of our fund partners and internal fund selection team means that we are able to cope with the more dynamic workflow at present, in addition to carrying out regular maintenance and project tasks. This is fine in the short term, however if it carries on for a prolonged period, we will miss the spontaneity and creative atmosphere of a shared office space. I for one am not ready to go fully ‘work from home’ at the end of this.
3. Compare the full year 2020 forecast for client portfolio performance today with the assessment in December 2019.
At the end of December 2019, we acknowledged that we were late in the cycle and concentrated on areas within the major asset classes that presented compelling value back then (EM, Small Caps) – though did not forecast a recession in the next 12 months. Fast forward to April 2020 and clearly that analysis has changed, with the outlook for different asset classes, segments and sectors changing with the new economic circumstances. An economic recession is now certain, albeit likely to be relatively brief, and appetite for risk has been tactically reduced. Interestingly, despite Covid-19 being a black swan event both socially and economically, we see acceleration of structural trends – fiscal expansion, the end of austerity, technological disruption in working and healthcare environments – that were already part of our secular outlook.
4. How do you keep balanced and healthy during this period of isolation?
Intuitively, the work-life balance should improve in these circumstances, as we spend more time at home! The reality is that the other leg has also increased as well, so my response would be that things remain perfectly balanced.
1. Assuming you’re in stay-at-home mode, how often do you get outside and what do you do?
80% of the staff in Hong Kong are now back in the office. We continue to split the working locations of some of the critical functions of the business such as the investment team, trading and middle office which is in line with the firm’s business continuity policy. During the more stringent stay-at-home period, we cut down on non-essential trips out of the house drastically and on average left the house once/day for grocery shopping/getting fresh air on a walk etc.
2. Given extreme market volatility and uncertainty about recovery timing, what are the recurring client concerns and how are you answering them?
Our clients’ biggest concern has been how the recovery looks and what we expect the pace of recovery to be, especially within China with regards to how much stimulus they undertake. This has since transitioned to what the impact is on demand from the rest of the world.
3. How have you arranged to address client inquiries (use tech tools like videoconferencing, whats app and others)? Do any clients request face-to-face meetings?
We have been using a combination of Zoom (with passwords), conference calls and video conference calls. No clients have requested to meet face-to-face and more often than not these calls have been conducted with client teams dialling in from various locations, as they work from home. We regard regular and transparent client communication as key, even more so during this period of heightened market volatility and inability to meet face-to-face.
4. What tasks can you do in the office that cannot be done when working from home?
We were able to conduct the vast majority of tasks just as well from home as in the office. However, the one area that the team did miss was the daily ad-hoc interaction between co-workers which often leads to useful debate and idea-generative conversations. Whilst a lot of communication was conducted via WhatsApp and over the phone, there is no doubt some element of regular ad-hoc interaction that is lost when not working in person next to each other.
