Initiatives & Achievements

Responding to changing client needs

Investors’ needs are changing. Investment strategies based on measuring risk and return in relation to the market benchmark are being replaced by a move toward absolute returns, which seek to provide consistent performance irrespective of market conditions.

Global Asset Management has responded by developing innovative new products to meet this need. The Dynamic Alpha Strategy (DAS) aims for a specific level of long-term return and preservation of capital through active investment in global markets and the use of derivatives to mitigate risk. Based on this strategy, in October 2004 we launched a UK Targeted Return pooled fund aimed at institutional investors. Since launch, the fund has generated substantial interest. In December 2004 a new US mutual fund was introduced.

Our successful Absolute Return Bond (ARB) product, launched in April 2004, offers institutional and wholesale investors the opportunity to achieve positive returns, even when interest rates are rising. Currently, ARB has attracted nearly CHF 4 billion in invested assets. Initially provided to UBS’s wealth management clients, ARB will soon be widely available through third-party distribution across Europe.