Research and Insights

11 April 2022

Renewable energy may be relatively cheaper to produce. But the investment and logistical retooling required to go cold turkey on coal is substantial to the point of being dangerously impractical.

15 October 2021

Diversification is about more than placing your eggs in different baskets. It is about finding different types of baskets with different pay-off profiles. Holding many, correlated assets could leave you short of achieving your diversification goals when it matters most.

23 June 2019

In 2016 the Association for Savings & Investment South Africa (ASISA) introduced standards relating to the disclosure of total expense ratios and transaction costs for financial products such as collective investment schemes. Costs really do matter when analysing any investment, so knowing what to look for when comparing TERs, TICs and TCs is essential. In this article we unpack the implications of these measures and what drives them in the context of index investing.

6 December 2018

Listed property has often suffered from an existential identity crisis. Is it an asset class all on its own, or is it a distinctive sub-sector within equity? Or could it even be seen as a high duration bond? Most seasoned investment professionals consider listed property as a stand-alone asset class given its unique character where the return drivers are linked to both equities AND bonds.

20 February 2018

Many enthusiastic investors look forward to the start of a year so they can reflect on how their funds stacked up on performance ranking tables over the prior year. Was my fund exposed to Steinhoff? Did I have enough Naspers? Was my portfolio hedged against the Rand? And ultimately… did I pick the right fund manager(s) to make those all-important calls and judiciously adjust my portfolio through the year to best take advantage of volatile markets

14 February 2018

Index tracking or passive investing – whichever you’d prefer to call it – has attracted a lot of attention from both the media and active managers in the past. The arguments for and against are well documented and, as with any debate, there are always three sides to the story. If you’ve been kept out of the loop on these conversations you would do well to immerse yourself in them now, says Kingsley Williams, Chief Investment Officer at Satrix.

20 January 2017

Globally the debate has long moved on from active versus passive to how these can be combined to assist an investor with optimally achieving their overall investment objectives. We believe that both active and passive funds can blend well together in a diversified portfolio, and that much of the perceived disparity between the two is due to the few remaining myths that still surround active versus passive.

2 October 2016

With 2016 quickly drawing to a close, one cannot help but sit back and reflect on the quantum of events that have surprised investors this year. From Leicester City winning the English Premier League, to the outcome of the EU referendum (Brexit), to Donald Trump being elected as the president of the United States of America… and everything in between.

8 June 2016

Looking back, history is a valuable place to find answers, says Jason Liddle, CIO of Satrix Managers. The 2008 global financial crisis, like many before it, has led many investors, investment practitioners, risk managers and policy makers to rethink and re-evaluate their approaches to investing and the capital markets.

20 April 2016

Some might remember the day Oprah Winfrey gave every member of her audience a free car in 2004. “You get a car, you get a car, everybody gets a car!” Sadly, not everybody gets to win something, even though we think we will.

15 October 2015

Speaking at the Sanlam Investments Institutional Insights conference in Johannesburg last month, Roland Rousseau, head of the Barclays Africa Risk Strategy Group, ventured to say that asset managers may sometimes overrate their skill in terms of beating benchmarks, outperforming their peers or winning industry awards.

14 March 2015

Despite being a moot point, the active versus passive investment debate resurfaces regularly. Each side has been quite vocal recently, highlighting the shortcomings of the opposition. It may surprise you that as a passive index provider we are of the view that both disciplines can add value.

13 March 2015

I always find it extremely valuable to hear the opinions and views from financial advisers as I travel around the country. The conversation is always direct and honest – something that I highly appreciate. It’s clear to me that their job is demanding and that there remains a wide variety of views on the subject of passive and active approaches to investing.