Alan Higgins, CIO of Coutts, is the latest guest in our remote podcasting series. He tells me about opportunities to look for from the “euphoria” that will come when the world returns to normality, and how he’s positioning his portfolios.
Alan admits he’s not entirely comfortable working from home, but acknowledges that working patterns in financial services could be changed for good – which is not great news for property funds investing in offices.
Still, he believes it will take “maybe a generation” before all clients are happy to invest large lump sums online.
A fresh look at savings
On the macro picture, he adds: “We are going to enter into a deep recession, but when we come out of it there will be initial euphoria, no doubt about it in terms of travel, hospitality, restaurants etc.
“But I do wonder whether, in the long-term, people will look at their savings knowing that this was an event they had no control over whatsoever, it came out of nowhere. Have they really got the degree of savings they need?
“After the euphoria, we are going to go back to pretty slow growth with consumers raising their savings ratios over time.”
Alan also talks about the opportunities for active managers as markets take a dip, while also touching upon what he sees as good risk-adjusted opportunities in short-dated credit.
17 January 2019
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