Marc Zeitoun, COO of North America Distribution & Head of Strategic Beta at Columbia Threadneedle Investments spoke with Julie Cooling, Founder & CEO, RIA Channel on the opportunities in fixed income and multi-sector strategies.
Advisors are feeling tremendous levels of hesitancy given the market’s current state, explains Zeitoun. Much of this unease stems from the low-interest rates and uncertainty in the equity market. When approached mindfully, de-risking, moving investments from equity to fixed income, can help investors find income opportunities. Zeitoun encourages advisors to look beyond the Agg, into non-traditional spaces such as credit, high yield, and emerging market debts sectors. The goal should not be to blanket any of these sectors, but rather to find quality investments. Historically, high yield and emerging market debt sectors have provided great downside protection, while outperforming the larger sector’s track on the downside. When implemented properly, fixed income can present openings for investors striving to de-risk their equity portfolios.
The current market environment is also encouraging advisors to rebalance their portfolios toward alpha. Investments do not have to be actively managed to attain the benefits of alpha, explains Zeitoun. Investors can reach their goals through a multi-sector fixed income solution. Columbia Threadneedle’s strategic beta suite was designed by the company’s active managers “to generate incremental and excess return versus the benchmark,”says Zeitoun. Columbia Threadneedle offers two products to fulfill investors’ alpha needs, the Columbia Strategic Income Fund and the Columbia Diversified Fixed Income Allocation ETF (DIAL). According to Morningstar’s rating system, DIAL was recently named the best performing US Multi-Sector bond fund across all mutual funds and ETFs in the category.
Marc Zeitoun manages Columbia Threadneedle’s strategic beta platform and RIA and private bank distribution channels. Zeitoun was the chief product and marketing officer for Emerging Global Advisors from 2013 to 2016 before they were acquired by Columbia Threadneedle. He has been a valued member of the investment community since 1994 and holds the CFA distinction. Columbia Threadneedle Investments manages roughly $426 billion an assets and prides itself on its ability to provide clients with a global perspective and research-based, forward-thinking strategies.
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