Winners rationale

In 2018, rising rates and a flattening yield curve amplified headwinds in global fixed income markets, sending investors in search of flexible and unconstrained strategies to tackle increased market risks and uncertainties.

Rising to the challenge, PIMCO’s global fixed income strategy maintained its preeminent status, contributing significantly to the firm’s US$1.66 trillion in AUM, as at end-December 2018, thanks to the asset manager’s world-class team, well-established processes, and strong performance record.

Following a modest loss in 2008, the fund proved resilient during troubled conditions in late 2011 and mid-2013, as well as last year when it outperformed its benchmark, the Bloomberg Barclays US Aggregate Index, by 27 bps, as of 30 November 2018.

Targeting income, the Global Fixed Income strategy relies on timely top-down and bottom-up calls, is significantly weighted in higher-income spaces — such as high-yield and non-US bonds — and has a tilt to non-agency mortgages relative to other global flexible bonds. As a result, the fund’s monthly yield payment has quenched Asia’s private investors’ thirst for competitive and consistent income without compromised returns.

Throughout 2018, PIMCO’s well-established risk management and distribution teams employed the best income-generating ideas across the global fixed income space, earning the asset manager near-unanimous recognition from Asia’s private banking fund selectors as Asian Private Banker’s Best Fund Provider – Global Bond.