Fund Managers

The fund manager is one of the key determinants of mutual fund performance. By assessing a fund manager, one can understand their investment style. This will help investors to check whether their objectives are in line with that of the fund manager’s actions. However, one cannot just rely on the fund manager as a sole factor to assess a fund. The past performance of the fund, the portfolio and other factors have to be considered as well.

Meaning of a Fund Manager

A fund manager is an individual who is responsible for implementing a fund’s investment strategy. They are also responsible for managing the portfolio by constantly rebalancing it. One or more than one manager can manage an investment fund. It can be either an actively or passively managed fund.

The returns from a fund largely depend on the portfolio manager’s experience, research and investment style. The fund manager is responsible for the trading activities of the portfolio.

A fund manager receives money for their management expertise. It is usually a percentage of the fund’s average assets under management (AUM). They constantly monitor the macro, micro and business factors and take necessary investment decisions. Furthermore, they aim to generate benchmark beating returns and higher returns than their peers.

Thousands of investors entrust their money with the fund manager, and hence their role gains much importance.

Role of a Fund Manager

Investing in a mutual fund translates to investing in a portfolio of securities. The manager and his team carefully curate the portfolio. Research is at the heart of the fund manager’s job. The portfolio manager and his team constantly evaluate and select best stock, bonds and other instruments. Their asset selection is made, keeping in mind the fund’s investment objective. To perform the research and analysis, the fund manager leverages various research tools and software platforms.

The fund manager collects and reads through all the stock information, financial briefings and other economic events. In addition to this, they also regularly meet company personnel and industry experts to study the functioning of the companies.

On the basis of the research, the manager shortlists the companies that suit the investment objective of the fund. And, a similar approach is followed for other asset classes, bonds, commodities, etc.

In addition to identifying and investing in the assets, the fund manager and his team are responsible for preparing reports. The periodic reports consist of details of the portfolio construction, performance of the fund and any portfolio decisions taken.

The fund manager sometimes also participates in events to promote the fund and represent the company in investment-related panel discussions.

Furthermore, the fund manager is also responsible for managing costs associated with operating and administering the fund. Therefore, most decisions are taken keeping the cost in mind.

Additionally, the manager also takes care of liquidity and risk management of the fund. They are responsible for ensuring adequate liquidity in the fund. In other words, it means that the fund is liquid enough to be sold quickly without generating much loss.

Importance of a Fund Manager in Mutual Funds

One of the main reasons why individuals choose mutual funds over stocks is because professional experts manage them. Fund manager forms an integral part of a mutual fund. Their expertise and investment decisions are what generate significant returns for investors.

Most companies and investors prefer mutual funds on the basis of the track record of the fund manager.

Some investors rely on the fund manager’s track record or the fund, and when the manager quits, they start to worry about their investments. Such scenarios have taken place in the past. However, it is important to note that even if the management changes the investments still remain intact. The fund manager changing will not have an impact on the value of the fund. However, it is advisable to stay focused on the scheme’s performance.

Investors who worry about the fund manager changing, quitting or moving from the fund, can consider investing in passive funds. Passive mutual funds invest in stocks and bonds in the same proportion as that of the benchmark index.

A manager plays a very important role in popularizing and maintaining a mutual fund scheme. The performance of a fund depends on the fund manager. However, it largely depends on the performance of the market.

Furthermore, asset management companies also use various retention strategies to retain a fund manager. The asset management companies understand the fund manager’s power in getting customers and their ability to generate significant returns.

Following are the duties of a fund manager

Wealth protection

Fund managers constantly strive to protect the wealth of the investors. Good returns come with certain risks. They take calculated risk backed by extensive research and due diligence. To protect the wealth of the investors, the MF manager employs risk management techniques and investigations. Also, through proper diversification, they ensure that market fluctuations do not highly impact the portfolio.

Monitoring

Investing in stocks and creating a portfolio is not the end of the job. The MF manager and his team perform timely evaluations of the market, economic factors, and company-specific analysis to ensure that the fund performs well. They monitor and rebalance the portfolio to adjust to the changing market dynamics. Also, to ensure that the returns are above the interest rates and inflation rate.

Reporting

On a regular basis, the asset management company and the manager of the fund must report the fund’s portfolio, performance, investment plans, and any strategies they have undertaken. These reports help investors study the performance and understand the changes in the fund portfolio. It is the fund manager’s responsibility to ensure that the reporting documents are furnished in time and are as per regulations and laws.

Compliance

The MF manager has to comply with all the rules and regulations set by the Securities Exchange Board of India (SEBI) and any other relevant authorities. The regulations include everything from signing clients to handling redemptions. Furthermore, the manager is answerable to the legislators and investor in case of any non-compliance.

Oversight and Hiring

A portfolio manager has multiple duties to fulfil with respect to managing the MF. Therefore, certain duties are usually outsourced. Also, for research, the manager employs a team who perform the research and provide insight. As a result, the investment manager also actively participates in hiring the required personnel and agencies to perform the duties.

How to Evaluate a Fund Manager?

While investing in mutual funds, the portfolio manager is considered as one of the important selection criteria along with the fund’s past performance and portfolio. This is because it is the portfolio manager who selects the stocks for the MF portfolio. Many experienced investors evaluate a MF based on its performance, portfolio, relative returns against the benchmark and the portfolio manager.

To evaluate a fund manager, one can consider the following factors:

Investment style

Fund managers can be evaluated based on their investment style. Investors can check how the managers invest the money. Do they stay invested or have a huge cash balance? Investors can also check whether the managers mimic the benchmark portfolio or have their own investment strategy to invest. Moreover, they can check whether the investment manager is sticking to their core investment objective, investment plans and philosophy at all times or not. By doing so, they can deliver more sustained returns.

Experience

The experience of the portfolio manager is something that the investors should check before investing in a MF. A well-experienced manager would have experienced all market cycles and knows well how to deal with adverse situations.

Investment horizon

A fund manager who is churning the portfolio a lot is the one with a short term investment horizon. In contrast, a manager who has a lower portfolio turnover ratio has a longer investment horizon. The latter case shows they have confidence in their decision. Moreover, they will be able to test the market risk of the mutual fund portfolio. Also, a portfolio manager who churns the portfolio too frequently will increase the transaction costs. Hence, choose managers with a longer investment horizon.

Performance and track record

Investors have to check whether a MF manager has consistently delivered good returns over a period of time. Have the managers’ given benchmark beating returns? How were their portfolio returns in different market cycles? By checking these factors, an investor can evaluate an asset manager.

First mover

A MF manager who has identified an opportunity ahead of the market is the one who earns higher profits than the others. Hence choose managers who are able to track stocks ahead of their peers.

Market research

Fund managers have to do market research. There is nothing new in that. However, market research not only involves identifying opportunities in the market; it also means keeping track of the movements of all other institutional players. They have to keep continuously checking what the DIIs and FIIs are buying and selling. This is because of their actions that the stock market is mostly affected.

How do Fund Managers decide where to invest?

Portfolio managers perform extensive market research before deciding on the portfolio of a mutual fund. They also collect insights from their research team. Below are a few examples of how the fund managers decide on which securities to invest:

• In the case of equity securities, they study the financial results of companies. Then analyze the financials in the light of their current market price.
• They take help of various financial indicators like PE ratio, intrinsic value and beta to assess if the stock is fairly priced, and how much is its market risk. They invest in stocks which are fairly priced and reduce exposure to the ones which are overpriced.
• In case of a debt fund, they assess the different macro indicators like inflation, interest rates, and exchange rates as these factors affect the prices of the debt securities.
• Some debt fund managers also evaluate the duration and average maturity of securities to select the debt papers for a portfolio.