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    Municipal bonds

    US municipal bonds at Insight

    Compelling Yields and high credit quality

    Municipal bonds can offer comparable yields to investment grade corporate credit, while typically exhibiting higher credit ratings and lower historical default rates. They can therefore offer attractive diversification benefits alongside potential for returns.

    Access to higher credit quality with comparable yields to corporate bonds

    Aggregate credit rating of AA and a long-term average default rate of just 0.09% versus 2.2% for global investment grade credit, with higher recovery rates1.

    Greater credit resilience

    The quasi-public nature of municipal bonds has resulted in significantly lower historical default rates2 and higher recovery rates than global corporate bonds.3

    Opportunities for higher risk-adjusted returns: Taxable munis provide diversification benefits in a fixed income portfolio based on correlations.4

    What are municipal bonds?

    US municipal bonds are issued by US state and local governments, and non-profit entities to fund public infrastructure initiatives.

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    General obligation (GO) bonds

    General obligation (GO) bonds

    General obligation bonds are funded by a municipality’s full faith and creditworthiness. The GO market is around $500bn in size and is the most popular segment of the municipal bond market. We believe an active approach can add value if an investor can access large, dedicated municipal bond credit analyst teams.

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    Revenue bonds

    Revenue bonds

    The $1.1trn revenue bond market is harder to analyze results and is less efficient, potentially providing opportunities for active managers. In our view, around ~80% of a municipal bond allocation should be tilted toward revenue bonds. We believe investors need to partner with a skilled and well-resourced active municipal bond manager capable of analyzing diverse municipal credits across the large universe of revenue bonds.

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    Taxable municipal bonds

    Taxable municipal bonds

    A smaller but rapidly growing sub-set of the overall municipal bond market, provide income and yields which are often greater than similarly rated corporate bonds in the US and globally. This is particularly attractive to non-US investors. Given inefficiencies in market pricing, this at times opens up potential relative value opportunities across the taxable and tax-exempt markets.

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    Tax-exempt municipal bonds

    Tax-exempt municipal bonds

    Can be an attractive tax-efficient investment vehicle for US individual and corporate investors as the coupon interest income paid by these bonds is exempt from federal, and in many cases, state income taxes. While non-US investors would not benefit from the tax relief, these bonds can offer diversification benefits.

    Why Insight for munis?
    Strategies

    Highly experienced dedicated municipal bond team

    Highly experienced team exploits opportunities in a fragmented market. Detailed credit analysis by a specialist team is required to assess the unique risks and characteristics of a diverse array of underlying infrastructure assets. 5

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    1933: began managing municipal portfolios

    20+ years: average portfolio management experience

    17 years: average portfolio management tenure at Insight (and predecessor firms)

    Bespoke solutions quality, duration and leverage

    Direct access to Portfolio Management team

    $892.2 billion firm assets

    More than $17.5 billion US Municipal assets

    Meet some of the team

    The senior members of Insight’s municipal investment and trading teams have, on average, over two decades of experience in municipal bond markets.

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    Daniel Rabasco, CFA

    Head of Municipal Bonds

    Daniel Rabasco, CFA

    Head of Municipal Bonds

    Dan joined Insight in September 2021 following the transition of Mellon Investments’ fixed income strategies to Insight. He has worked in the investment industry since 1987. Dan is the head of municipal bonds, overseeing and guiding the investment management process for the firm’s tax-exempt strategies. Previously, he was the chief investment officer for tax-exempt bond and prior to that position, Dan was the head of trading for tax-exempt bonds, responsible for managing the municipal bond trading desk. Before joining Mellon Investments, Dan directed the municipal bond group at Fleet where he was responsible for managing mutual fund, common trust fund and high net worth client assets.

    Previously, he was a portfolio manager at Evergreen Investments, where he managed national and state-specific mutual funds. His other responsibilities included hospital and high yield credit analysis. Dan began his career as a municipal analyst at Liberty Insurance Company.

    He holds a BA from Boston College and an MBA from Suffolk University. Dan has served as a member of the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board's Investor Advisory Group (2004-2008). He is a CFA charterholder and is a member of the CFA Institute.

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    Jeffrey Burger, CFA

    Senior Portfolio Manager, Municipal Bonds

    Jeffrey Burger, CFA

    Senior Portfolio Manager, Municipal Bonds

    Jeffrey joined Insight in September 2021 following the transition of Mellon Investments’ fixed income strategies to Insight. He has been in the investment industry since 1998 and joined Mellon Investments in 2009 as a senior analyst specializing in land-secured and special tax bonds. He is now a senior portfolio manager for US municipal bond strategies. He is responsible for managing US municipal bond strategies for institutional, high net worth and mutual fund clients.

    Previously, Jeffrey worked at Columbia Management as a portfolio manager and senior research analyst and at Fitch Ratings as a senior-level analyst. Jeff was elected to the Society of Municipal Analysts in 2019 and is a former chairman and member of the executive committee and board of governors for the National Federation of Municipal Analysts. He is also a former president of the Boston Municipal Analysts Forum.

    Jeffrey earned an MPA from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University and a BA degree, cum laude, in policy studies and public relations from Syracuse University. He is a CFA charterholder and is a member of the CFA Institute.

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    Thomas Casey

    Senior Portfolio Manager, Municipal Bonds

    Thomas Casey

    Senior Portfolio Manager, Municipal Bonds

    Tom joined Insight in September 2021 following the transition of Mellon Investments’ fixed income strategies to Insight. He has been in the investment industry since 1988 and joined Mellon Investments in 1993 as a trader and portfolio analyst on the US Municipal Team. He is now a senior portfolio manager for US municipal bond strategies responsible for managing US Municipal Bond portfolios for institutional, insurance and high net worth clients. Tom worked as an analyst at State Street Bank & Trust Company before joining Mellon Investments. He earned an MBA and a BA from Boston College.

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    Daniel Marques, CFA

    Senior Portfolio Manager, Municipal Bonds

    Daniel Marques, CFA

    Senior Portfolio Manager, Municipal Bonds

    Dan joined Insight in September 2021 following the transition of Mellon Investments’ fixed income strategies to Insight. He has been in the investment industry since 1992 and joined Mellon Investments in 2000. He is a senior portfolio manager for US municipal bond strategies. He is responsible for managing US Municipal Bond portfolios for institutional, high net worth and mutual fund clients. Dan is also a leader of sustainability and ESG integration for US Municipal Bond portfolios and a lead portfolio manager for the US Municipal ESG strategy. He also provides municipal market analysis and performance attribution commentary for the team.

    Dan served as an investment research manager at Citizens Bank before joining Mellon Investments. He earned an MBA from Nichols College and a BS from the University of Massachusetts. He is a CFA charterholder and is a member of the CFA Institute.

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    Daniel Barton, CFA

    Head of Research, Municipal Bonds

    Daniel Barton, CFA

    Head of Research, Municipal Bonds

    Dan joined Insight in September 2021 following the transition of Mellon Investments’ fixed income strategies to Insight. He has worked in the investment industry since 2000. Dan is the head of research for tax-exempt bonds. In addition to his research responsibilities covering utilities, project finance, tobacco securitization, charter schools and corporate backed bonds, Dan co-manages several state-specific and credit-specific tax-exempt bond portfolios.

    Prior to joining Mellon Investments, Dan was a municipal credit analyst at Columbia Management Group. Previously, he was a chemical engineer with Stone & Webster. Dan earned a BS in chemical engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and an MBA from Bentley College. He is a CFA charterholder and is a member of the CFA Society Boston. Dan served as the President of the Boston Municipal Analyst Forum in 2020 and is currently on the Board of the National Federation of Municipal Analysts.

    Municipal bonds can potentially offer
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    To discuss how municipal bonds can potentially enhance your portfolio, please contact us.

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    To discuss how Insight can help tailor a solution to your specific needs around your risk & return profile, cash flow requirements and ESG/net zero policies, please contact us.

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