2021 INVESTMENT THEMES

Our ten investment themes for 2021 mainly focus on tactical and structural themes geared to equity markets. 

This year, we grouped our themes by investment horizon, from short term to long term. Our first theme, entitled 'Vaccines, recovery, and reflation', focuses on assets that should be the first to recover in the cyclical turnaround that we anticipate over the coming months. Examples are early-cycle sectors, selected commodities and commodity currencies.

The second group, with three medium-term themes, includes 'Low volatility absolute return: facing the challenge of a negative-yield world' (alternative UCITs, absolute bond funds and structured products), 'Sniffing out yield truffles' (corporate and Emerging Market bonds, infrastructure funds and real estate) and 'Constructing a new diversified portfolio for a changing world' (asset diversification through selected commodities, currencies, US inflation-Indexed bonds, alternative UCITs and private equity).

We have six long-term themes divided into two groups. The first group includes 'Enter the dragon: China’s opening of capital markets and economic reform' (China A-Shares, technology sector, onshore bonds etc.), 'New consumption habits in a post-lockdown world' (home-based consumption, home entertainment/activities, etc.), 'Shifting generational influences: how demographic trends are improving the quality of life' (nutrition, housing, medical care etc.) and 'Enablers of smart technologies' (Artificial Intelligence, Big Data, cybersecurity etc.)

The second group addresses ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) themes, such as 'The energy transition and the ‘green deal‘: long-term opportunities' (technological innovation, equipment and storage for renewable energies) and 'Strong corporate governance as an aid to low-risk outperformance: investing in trust and profitability'.