Not just that, but highly mathematical, sophisticated, experienced and immune to fashion.
If only we could all be in the position of having hired such professionals. I have spoken to several in recent weeks and they are full of the list of fundamental investment rules that others have broken: equity managers with a fundamentals approach that bought into AIG, Fannie Mae, Lehmans, HBOS on the grounds that they were cheap, going concerns; currency managers that did not predict the wild fluctuations in markets; hedge fund managers who were never supposed to make losses, even if the losses are less than equity managers, and who have subsequently seen their clients lose faith; treasury and cash managers that chose the wrong banks.
Some will be asking themselves what all their trustee training was for if they still ended up getting burnt. They will be wondering not only about their training, but the extra time they devoted to their role. They thought they were Fabio Capello, but it turns out they were Brian Barwick.
Increasingly, the answer would appear to be to delegate more and more to professionals who live and breathe investment, and for many trustees to get back to their day jobs and focus more on monitoring than being part-time investment experts.
David Rowley
Editor
