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Systematic Fixed Income Beta

Based in Montreal, QC, the team works closely with one another while they leverage the vast resources that the Manulife Investment Management global organization has to offer. This includes credit research, actuarial science, and environmental, social, and governance reports.

Experience and capabilities

Custom solutions for complex investing challenges

The team applies quantitative processes to pension, insurance, and institutional assets for clients across Canada, the U.S., and Asia. A suite of proprietary tools, developed over 20 years of research, help our portfolio managers make timely, actionable decisions.

A unique team structure

Ten investment professionals with over 150 years of combined experience are organized into two groups that work hand-in-hand: portfolio management and research and client portfolio management. Their experience spans disciplines such as quantitative research, financial engineering, and portfolio management.

Systematic Fixed Income Beta Profile

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Investment management team

There are 'pockets of value' in the fixed income market. Quantitative credit and curve analysis enables us to identify and exploit these pockets of value in the pursuit of long-term returns, while minimizing downside risk.

The team also has full-access to resources on Manulife’s global teams, including derivatives services, global trading platform, risk and analytics and credit research.

Serge Lapierre, FSA, FCIA

Head of Liability-Driven Investments, Financial Engineering, and Quantitative Research, Sr. Portfolio Manager, Multi-Asset Solutions Team
Began career: 1994

Jean-Francois Giroux, CFA, FRM

Portfolio manager and head of LDI Canada
Began career: 2001

Sonia Chatigny, CFA

Managing director and portfolio manager 
Began career: 1996

Nicholas Scipio del Campo

Managing director and head portfolio manager 
Began career: 2005

Christina Somers, CFA

Portfolio manager
Began career: 2001

Research and client portfolio management

Mathieu Giroux

Managing Director, Quantitative Management
Began career: 2007

Yasho Jallan, PhD

Financial Engineer, Digital and DTC
Began career: 2020

Investment process

Within a quantitative framework we apply our expertise to generate innovative investment solutions, and develop state of the art portfolio management techniques, allowing us to remain at the forefront of the investment industry. But first and foremost we are committed to understanding client needs and developing specific solutions to meet those needs.

The team is committed to understanding your needs and developing specific solutions to meet those needs. The first step is Discover and Understand your unique needs – listening to your needs is at the core of what we do. The second step is Model Goals – We use a robust proprietary toolkit to support multiple types of goals and assumptions. The third step is custom benchmark – we create a custom benchmark to match the goal and achieve your target risk and return profile. The fourth step is Portfolio. We build a custom portfolio to meet or exceed the custom benchmark return potential.

For illustrative purposes only.

This four-step process was the framework used when building the Manulife Smart Bond ETFs.

Members of the Systematic Fixed Income Beta group rely on a scalable and repeatable process to identify pockets of value in bond markets. The goal is to match the risk profile of their respective market indices while providing a higher yield.

Manulife Smart Bond ETF investment process

The team manages the Smart Bond ETFs by combining a disciplined, quantitative model with a security specific-credit overlay. This robust quantitative approach includes seeking maximum value from sector, industry and yield curve positioning while the credit analysis overlay and strong risk management process ensure a high quality, diversified portfolio.
For illustrative purposes only.

ETFs

Hedged ticker

Unhedged ticker

Fund name

Morningstar category

Use for

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TERM

Manulife Smart Short-Term Bond ETF

 Canadian short-term fixed income Core Canadian investment grade bond holding

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BSKT

Manulife Smart Core Bond ETF

 Canadian fixed income Core Canadian investment grade bond holding

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CBND

Manulife Smart Corporate Bond ETF

 Canadian corporate fixed income Core Canadian investment grade bond holding

The Manulife Smart Balanced Dividend ETF bundle, and Manulife Smart Corporate Bond ETF are now available in the GIF Select InvestmentPlus and Manulife Private Investment Pools — MPIP Segregated Pools contracts. The Manulife Smart Balanced Dividend ETF bundle is also available on the mutual fund platform.

Our entire Manulife ETFs lineup

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Manulife Smart ETFs.

Now available on our segregated fund platform.

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*As of September 30, 2020.

1 Source: Manulife Investment Management as of September 30, 2020.

Commissions, trailing commissions, management fees and expenses all may be associated with mutual fund investments. Please read the fund facts as well as the prospectus of the mutual funds before investing. Mutual funds are not guaranteed, their values change frequently and past performance may not be repeated. Manulife Funds (including the Trust Pools) are managed by Manulife Investment Management Limited (formerly named Manulife Asset Management Limited). Manulife Investment Management is a trade name of Manulife Investment Management Limited. Manulife, Stylized M Design, and Manulife Investment Management & Design are trademarks of The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company and are used by it, and its affiliates under license.