13 Questions for Insight Investment’s Damien Hill

Describe
Your
Investment
Strategy

We
have
a
dual
focus
on
delivering
attractive
financial
outcomes
while
taking
environmental,
social
and
governance
(ESG)
factors
into
account.
We
seek
to
emphasise
the
best
and
avoid
the
worst
performers
on
ESG
issues,
avoid
investments
in
industries
that
have
a
negative
impact,
apply
a
higher
hurdle
when
considering
investments
in
environmentally-sensitive
industries,
and
harness
long-term
themes
such
as
climate
change.

What
Are
2024’s
Biggest
Investment
Opportunities?

Fixed
income
is
back
for
sure.
Yields
are
once
again
around
the
levels
last
seen
in
the
global
financial
Crisis –
well
in
excess
of
those
available
on
most
broad-based
equity
indices
in
terms
of
dividend
yield.
But
investors
don’t
need
to
reach
down
to
alternatives,
private
credit
or
high
yield
to
access
yields
at
these
high
levels.
Our
current
bias
is
to
allocate
more
to
high-quality
investment-grade.
Both
our
Responsible
Horizons
UK
Corporate
Bond
and
Responsible
Horizons
Strategic
Bond
strategies
have
a
broad
enough
opportunity
set
to
access
yields
at
these
higher
levels.

What
Are
The
Biggest
Risks
to
The
Current
Bull
Run?

If
we
start
to
see
increasing
tensions
between
rising
growth,
high-for-longer
inflation
and
rising
yields,
then
there
could
be
an
inflection
point
where
the
bull
market
environment
becomes
less
supportive.
Separately,
concentration
risk
in
indices
like
the
S&P
500,
where

the
Magnificent
Seven
dominates,
is
somewhat
worrying.

Who
is
the
Most
Inspiring
Person
You’ve
Worked
With?

I’ve
been
at
Insight
Investment
for
nearly
20
years
and
the
firm’s
chief
executive
Abdallah
Nauphal
has
always
been
a
charismatic
individual.
Our
co-head
of
fixed
income,
Lucy
Speake,
has
also
been
an
important
mentor
to
me.
She
has
managed
me
for
12
years,
gives
me
room
to
grow,
the
responsibility
to
make
decisions,
and
the
freedom
to
express
myself. 

What
(if
Any)
Investments
Fit
the
‘Buy
and
Hold
Forever’
Category?

We
broadly
think
risk-adjusted
fixed
income
needs
to
be
a
part
of
more
people’s
allocations.
Investing
on
a
five-to-10-year
horizon,
we
argue
high
quality
fixed
income
is
a
decent
place
to
be
and
it’s
hard
to
look
past
the
yields
on
offer
in
pockets
of
the
market
like
global
government
bonds
and
investment
grade
credit,
where
default
rates
are
traditionally
low.

What
Would
You
Never
Invest
in?

If
we
cannot
appropriately
assess
the
risks
of
a
company
and
what
we’re
getting
ourselves
into,
we
won’t
invest.

How
Worried
Should
Active
Managers
be?

There
are
lots
of
periods
where
passives
do
well,
especially
within
equities
where
it
can
be
hard
to
beat
the
S&P
500.
But
within
fixed
income
markets,
there
are
still
great
complexities
and
inefficiencies,
which
require
careful
and
rigorous
analysis
to
get
right.
There’s
still
great
value
in
being
active –
certainly
when
it
comes
to
credit.

What
Unpopular
Investment
Opinions
Do
You
Have?

Within
credit,
many
fixed
income
investors
will
tout
the
attractiveness
of
broad-based
high
yield
for
the
simple
fact
that
yields
are
high
and
default
rates
are
likely
to
remain
low.
We
think
investment-grade
offers
a
much
better
risk-reward
potential.
While
we
do
see
opportunities
in
high
yield
–
for
example,
we
favour
short-dated
high
yield.
Many
high-yield
investors
are
very
focused
on
yields
and
not
enough
on
spreads
or
excess
yields.

Will
We
See
a
Crypto
ETF
in
the
UK?

Crypto
is
not
an
asset
class
widely
owned
by
professional
investors.
It
doesn’t
offer
the
transparency
necessary
to
conduct
rigorous
financial
analysis.
In
that
sense,
sentiment
and
supply/demand-driven
price
swings
are
not
a
surprise.
In
the
long
run,
bringing
the
asset
into
regulated
structures
is
probably
a
good
thing
for
stability
and
access.

Does
Asset
Management
Have
a
Role
in
Assessing
Social
Factors?

Exclusions
alone
are
not
enough
to
pursue
the
best
possible
outcome,
so
we
consider
social
risk
as
part
of
our
analysis. We
engage
with
issuers
through
a
combination
of
direct
dialogue,
group
meetings,
collaborative
initiatives
and
via
our
counterparties.
Labour
management
is
also
one
of
Insight’s
ESG
engagement
themes
for
2024.

Have
You
Ever
Engaged
With
a
Company
and
Been
Particularly
Pleased
(or
Disappointed)
by
the
Outcome?

In
2023,
we
engaged
with
a
company
in
the
hope
it
would
set
out
clear
commitments
to
end
its
funding
of
expanded
oil
and
gas
exploration
and
production.
Its
oil
and
gas
policy
now
excludes
new
oil
and
gas
project
funding.
By
committing
to
net-zero
alignment
and
stronger
ESG
goals,
we
didn’t
have
to
exclude
the
company.

What’s
The
Best
Bit
of
Advice
You’ve
Ever
Been
Given?

Learn
from
your
mistakes
but
don’t
hold
onto
them
–
the
onus
is
on
you
to
move
forward.

What
Does
Your
Life
Outside
of
Fund
Management
Look
like?

My
life
has
changed
rapidly
in
just
two
years.
My
partner
and
I
now
have
two
young
boys
who
are
totally
engrossing.
I
give
them
my
full
attention
outside
of
work.

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