Three quarters of the delegates who had found their way to the Hilton hotel in Amsterdam have low-volatility long only equity strategies in their portfolio. Moreover, 42% of them will increase their allocation in the next 12 months while none plan to decrease.
Smart beta allocation intentions
So Ana Harris, a portfolio strategist for State Street Global Advisors who had come to Amsterdam to convince delegates to include advanced beta strategies in their portfolios, had found herself an accommodating crowd. In fact most of her work had already been done, as only about a quarter of fund selectors in attendance said they do not use the asset class.
“The Dutch market is ahead of the rest of Europe in terms of appetite for and use of advanced beta strategies,” Harris concluded.
Dutch exception
This can’t be said of the Dutch’ enthusiasm for alternative investments. We spotted a trend of increasing interest in alternative Ucits during events we hosted across Europe in September. More than 40% of fund selectors in Stockholm and Milan said they will increase their allocation to alternative equities. For Brussels this was 30%. The Dutch are the odd one out here: only 15% of the audience said they will increase exposure to long/short strategies, while a majority is not even invested in alternative equity or fixed income strategies.
Click here to see a slideshow of photos taken at Expert Investor Netherlands.
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