Investment Week's top ten interviews of 2020

Lauren Mason spoke to virologist fund manager Dr Bianca Ogden on coronavirus, healthcare valuations and biotech opportunities.

The manager of the AUS$335m Platinum International Healthcare fund explained that Covid-19 cannot eradicated via a single vaccine, and said the world should prepare for "ongoing waves and localised outbreaks".

While that prediction creates a great deal of uncertainty for fund managers, Dr Ogden outlined the outlook for a number of health and pharma stocks, which are set to benefit.

Following the revelation that Gary Greenberg would be stepping back from running the £3.9bn Hermes Global Emerging Markets and Global Emerging Markets SMID Equity funds, and passing on lead portfolio manager duties to co-portfolio manager Kunjal Gala, the duo spoke to Investment Week about their experience working together and what the future holds for both of them.

The pair discussed their strong professional and personal relationship, and why Greenberg believes his former funds are in safe hands under Gala's management.

Shortly before the UK went into Lockdown, Richard 'Dickie' Hodges spoke to Mike Sheen about how the Nomura Global Dynamic Bond fund had navigated the chaos that consumed global markets at the begging of this year as the impact of the coronavirus pandemic was felt.

Hodges explained how "cheap" put options on equities bought in February had protected the fund, while driving returns as equity markets plummeted in mid-March.

He also criticised the culture of share buy backs, which does "nothing to benefit the real economy" and should be banned.

 

LGBT Great founder and MD Matthew Cameron spoke to Investment Week about the importance of Project 1000 and how more people across the investment industry can get involved.

Cameron explained how his experiences growing up, his career history and his sexuality have enabled him to help others through Project 1000.

The demise of the President’s Club, following a scandal exposed by the FT in 2018, left a funding shortfall for a number of smaller charities less able to withstand losing such a lucrative source of income.

Co-founder of The Diversity Project Charity Sarah Bates spoke to Investment Week about how the initiative in filling the funding gap for these smaller charities.

Having been "compulsorily retired" by River & Mercantile in 2018 for what the firm called a professional conduct breach, Philip Rodrigs returned to the asset management industry in February with the launch of his own boutique investment management business

Rodrigs spoke to David Brenchley about Raynar Portfolio Management and his thoughts on his dismissal from River & Mercantile.

Head of defined contribution at Legal & General Investment Management Emma Douglas spoke to Laura Miller about how diversity initiatives fail, the blunt answer to the female boss problem, and what she would do with a scratchcard win.

Douglas also explained how she believes the UK's gender pensions gap can be closed, including a "great quick fix", and how the industry can communicate better on the issue.

After leaving his role as co-head of fixed income at Kames Capital to lead fixed income fund management at Artemis Fund Managers, Stephen Snowden spoke to Investment Week about how the launch of a new fund allowed him to overcome legacy issues associated with older vehicles.

Notably, he also described how he made the best and worst trades of his career within one week of each other amid the Global Financial Crisis, and what the experience taught him.

Following the launch of the Rize Medical Cannabis and Life Sciences UCITS ETF, co-founder Rahul Bhushan explained that the product would have been "impossible" five years ago and why it could have "taken six decades" to launch with an established asset manager. 

Bhushan told James Baxter-Derrington how the launch "really put [Rize] on the map" with a "new, innovative and exciting" product, which showcased the former ETF Securities team's "expertise and capabilities" and "even more importantly, attract people to come and work for us".

Manager of the Legg Mason IF Martin Currie US Unconstrained fund Zehrid Osmani spoke to Investment Week about how the highly concentrated strategy outperformed US equity peers without the aid of the FAANG stocks.

 

Shunning all of the mega-cap tech stocks with the exception of Amazon, Osmani outlined the "better opportunities" he sees in the US market across healthcare, technology, consumer stocks and industrials.