Insight Investment

Investing in credit offers the potential for higher yields than government strategies and lower volatility than riskier asset classes such as high yield or equities.

We are a leading asset manager in corporate bonds with long-established credit expertise. Our active portfolio management process draws on our fundamental credit research and analytical resources.

Our global investment team aims to provide investors with consistent risk-adjusted returns from corporate bonds and invests across a wide range of credit opportunities. With a rigorous and disciplined investment process, the team’s experience and expertise in analysing companies and other issues globally means we can provide capabilities across the full spectrum of the asset class.

Our credit capabilities are available on a pooled or segregated basis for UK, European or global mandates.

Features

• Diversification: Investible universe across the full global spectrum of credit markets, helping to reduce the effects of idiosyncratic credit risks, regional sectoral biases and rising political risks across the globe.
• Broader sources of outperformance: a global approach provides capable managers with more potential sources of relative value across credits, sectors and countries.  
• Top-down and bottom-up approach: our approach draws on Insight’s large team of fixed income specialists. The Fund seeks to maximise value from both a top-down and bottom-up perspective across the full range of global markets.

Pooled fund options

• BNY Mellon Global Credit Fund
• BNY Mellon European Credit Fund

More information on funds Insight manages for BNY Mellon is available here.

We believe that investing in a short-dated approach to high yield can offer a number of benefits over an all-maturity benchmark-related approach. Credit curves in high yield can be flat as issuers typically receive a single rating regardless of the maturity of the debt. In our experience, this often results in impressive value in short-dated issues. A portfolio can deliver lower interest rate risk, lower volatility and better liquidity.

Investors can access our high yield capabilities on a segregated basis.

Our high yield fund management team aims to provide investors with consistent risk-adjusted returns by investing across a wide range of opportunities. With a rigorous and disciplined process that prioritises credit analysis and pinpointing value, the team's experience and expertise in analysing companies globally means we can provide capabilities across the full spectrum of the asset class.

Features

• Credit analysis: we believe that when investing in high yield, the most important consideration is diligent credit analysis. Our team of specialist credit analysis enforces what we believe is a rigorous, value-based approach.
• Focus on short-dated markets: we focus on short-dated high yield to help take advantage of potential greater certainty of outcome and relatively large premium for short-dated issues.
• Diversification: our expertise spans the full global high yield market helping us as we seek to maximise the benefits of diversification.

Pooled fund options

• BNY Mellon Global Short-Dated High Yield Bond Fund

More information on funds Insight manages for BNY Mellon is available here.

Emerging market economies have quickly expanded to a point where they collectively contribute more to global growth than developed economies. The investment opportunity has evolved from a niche asset class to a global opportunity set spanning multiple countries at different stages of the economic and monetary cycle, across a range of sub-asset classes and instruments – including government and corporate debt in local or external currencies, derivatives and foreign exchange markets.

At Insight, we have designed a range of emerging market debt (EMD) capabilities that offer investors structural exposure to emerging markets across the full universe with varying degrees of alpha potential. Investors can access the opportunity set according to their risk/return preferences, exploiting attractive beta and alpha opportunities rather than relying on structural beta alone to drive returns, a feature which is typical of traditional benchmark-driven strategies.

Pooled fund options

• BNY Mellon Emerging Markets Debt Fund
• BNY Mellon Emerging Markets Corporate Debt Fund
• BNY Mellon Emerging Markets Debt Local Currency Fund
• BNY Mellon Emerging Markets Debt Total Return Fund

More information on funds Insight manages for BNY Mellon is available here.

In our experience, asset-backed securities (ABS) and other secured finance assets such as asset-backed securities can offer greater yield and lower risk than similar quality credit opportunities.

Key benefits

• Yield premium: There is an excess spread available to investors relative to investment-grade corporate credit without having to compromise on credit quality, due to the lower supply of credit to the market.
• Greater cashflow certainty: At the heart of each investment is a contractual promise to pay, secured by ring-fenced or identified assets which increases the certainty of payment.
• Structural protection: Low loan-to-value ratios, covenants protecting the lender's position and structures with built in excess collateral are some of the ways that secured finance investments can be structured to help protect investors from defaults.

Key capabilities

Our capabilities are available on a segregated basis, and our funds include:

• Global ABS Fund

More information on Insight’s funds is available on our funds and prices page.

Our approach to systematic fixed income investing seeks to deliver consistent return outcomes by utilising what we believe is an innovative model-driven approach to unlocking value in inefficient bond market segments. We aim to achieve this within structurally inefficient sectors of the bond market, seeking to deliver greater consistency in long-term returns through enhanced liquidity and broad diversification.

The range of assets available across credit markets, such as high yield debt and asset-backed securities, can make it challenging to apply a consistent responsible approach across these markets, given variances in approaches and available data.

The Responsible Horizons Multi-Sector Credit strategy seeks to generate a total return by investing primarily in a broad range of debt and debt-related securities while taking ESG factors into account.

To find out more about our strategy and to access our capabilities, please contact your Insight representative.

Key features

Access: the strategy targets assets across the full credit spectrum from a well-resourced, highly rated and experienced fixed income team.

Precision: the strategy employs a relative value framework to assess all credit asset classes implemented using Insight’s proprietary Units of Risk budgeting system.

Experience: Insight has extensive track records both within and across credit sub-asset classes through a range of market environments.

For more information on the Responsible Horizons range, visit the page here.

Taxable US municipal bonds can provide non-US investors with greater credit resilience, improve credit quality while maintaining yield and present opportunities for higher risk-adjusted returns.

However, munis remain one of the most overlooked asset class for fixed income investors.

Insight’s highly experienced specialist munis team can help you add resilience to your portfolio via a focus on revenue bonds and help you add value by exploiting opportunities in a fragmented market.

• Find out more about our municipal bond strategies.
• More information on funds Insight manages for BNY Mellon is available here.

For Insight, responsible investment is about value and sustainability. We believe all risks, including environmental, social and governance (ESG) risks, can affect the value of an investment.

Debt markets are larger and reach further than equity markets, offering extensive opportunities to engage with this much wider issuer base.

We believe integrating ESG considerations in our fixed income investment process, including the use of engagement with issuers to better understand material ESG risks that we may identify, can support better investment decision-making and ultimately help our clients to achieve their desired outcomes.

For more information on our approach to responsible investment, please see our responsible investment microsite.

Insight’s Responsible Horizons strategy range aims to help investors achieve two key goals: an investment portfolio that aligns with both future financial targets and sustainability goals. The strategies in the range include:

• Euro Impact Bond
• Emerging Market Debt Impact strategy
• Euro Corporate Bond strategy
• Multi-Sector Credit strategy

For more information on the Responsible Horizons range, visit the page here.

Our absolute return bond strategies aim to produce attractive returns in all market conditions by taking a flexible, broad approach to fixed income that harnesses the best opportunities in the market. They are unconstrained and invest in a wide range of fixed income markets including government bonds, investment grade, high-yield, loans, asset-backed securities, emerging markets and currencies.

Features

• Cash-plus goal: not tied to the confines of a traditional fixed income benchmark index, allowing managers more freedom in asset allocation in order to seek out different sources of return.
• Flexible derivatives platform: the strategies’ managers are able to express both positive and negative views, aiming to generate positive performance in all market conditions and hedge unwanted or unrewarded risks where desirable.
• Global diversification: aim for consistent risk-adjusted returns by investing across the full global opportunity set while operating within strict risk-management parameters.
• Effective return-seeking component of an LDI strategy: aim to help generate positive absolute returns while avoiding downside risks in seeking to help improve a pension scheme's funding level.

Pooled fund options

• BNY Mellon Absolute Return Bond Fund
• BNY Mellon Absolute Return Credit Fund
• Bonds Plus Fund

More information on funds Insight manages for BNY Mellon is available here.

More information on Insight’s funds is available on our funds and prices page.

Our absolute return convertible bond strategy seeks to generate attractive risk-adjusted returns that demonstrate low correlation to bond and equity markets and contain volatility, through investment in a focused portfolio of long positions in convertibles paired with dynamic equity hedges.

Key features

Seeking strong risk-adjusted returns: Through combining the defensive characteristics of convertible bonds with robust credit and equity analysis, we believe the strategy has the ability to deliver strong risk-adjusted returns throughout the market cycle.

Opportunity set: A number of different factors have led to convertible bond issuance increasing to levels not seen in over a decade, with significant growth in potential opportunities for active investors.

Highly experienced team: The strategy’s management team has over 20 years’ experience of managing convertible bond strategies including hedge funds and absolute return mandates. In managing the strategy, the team draws upon Insight’s wider investment resources in equity and credit research, quantitative analysis and risk management.

Pooled fund options

• BNY Mellon Absolute Return Global Convertible Fund

More information on funds Insight manages for BNY Mellon is available here.