Family Bankers from the Lazio Region Visit Dublin

We were excited to receive the first delegation of Italian Family Bankers – from the Lazio region! -  to our new office in Dublin last week.

After a tour of the facilities and a light breakfast we settled into a day of presentations and discussions. 

Kicking off with the Deputy Chief Investment Officer, Michael Paterson, offering an overview of the Mediolanum International Funds investment process, describing how, through our diverse expertise and resources we can build expert teams for each of our portfolios.

The scene was then set for a dive into fixed income by department head, Daniel Loughney whose view of the conflict in Iran suggests caution – the continuation of the war with will determine whether oil will bring more inflation and weaker growth. It is a complex scenario that points to focusing on quality but also on tactical opportunities.

Equity Markets by Senior Portfolio Manager, Eoin Maher commented   
volatility is set to remain high in the short term and that Europe offers an opportunity for growing relative value in the medium term, volatility is set to remain high in the short-term. He noted that market leadership is gradually expanding beyond mega-caps and that while rate cuts support the outlook, geopolitical risks remain

After mid-morning coffee, Head of Multi-Management, Giorgio Carlino focused on demonstrating the benefits of a multi-manager strategy including MIFL’s specialist expertise, allowing investors to access highly customised solutions, leveraging our experience in selecting and combining managers based on their strengths.

The fundamental elements of these portfolios are high-conviction managers, with a rigorous and long-term process, along with a constant search for new and diversified sources of alpha. Diversification means the risk/return profile is optimised, reducing risk while maintaining the same expected return level.

Next Deputy Head of Portfolio Management Patrick McKenna presented on emerging markets explaining to the Family Bankers that EM, China and India equities were satellite funds and, as such, had more risk but a potentially higher return and that they can help diversify a Core equity portfolio. 

He noted how MIFL’s delegate system allows us to hire some of the best, most specialised managers, stating “We believe that combining different investment philosophies and styles, it is possible to design superior portfolios” 

Portfolio Manager, Senan O’Sullivan discussed the MIFL focus on the three different approaches to value at MIFL – core, deep and quality, before exploring several funds including MBB Global Leaders and BB Dynamic International value Opportunities before he concluding that, with a focus on high quality companies with durable returns and strong fundamentals

After lunch, Chief Commercial Officer, Luca Matassino introduced the product session with a strong focus on the importance of financial advice. He described how active management creates value — but only with the right time horizon. Additionally he explained how manager selection is essential as not all active managers are able to generate value and finally and he touched on how alpha varies depending on the reference market, hence diversification across managers and markets can make the real difference. This approach should support financial advisors when discussing long-term objectives and the relevance of staying invested with their clients.

Product Specialist Riccardo Zorzi and Business Development Manager Sebastiano Corvino then dived into more detail on individual funds, portfolio performance, and the evolution of our multi-asset funds.

The day concluded with an overview of Mediolanum International Funds from our CEO, Furio Pietribiasi, who touched on key topics such as AI as well as reinforcing the key takeaways from the day and thanked the delegates for attending.

Feedback from the sessions was very positive, the networking opportunity was highly valued and travelling delegation went home with much food for thought. We look forward to hosting the next delegation soon.