[ MEET THE DESK | RBC BLUEBAY ASSET MANAGEMENT ’ S LONDON FIXED INCOME DESK ]
each one independently . Five years ago , the firm underwent a makeover , slimming down to one core investment process with one chief investment officer , Mark Dowding , and instating Campbell as head of trading .
However , the way traders ’ roles are split up still mirrors that legacy structure with dedicated roles for credit , convertible bonds , FX , rates , repo , local and hard emerging markets . Within each team , traders have their specialisms but each one is able to cover for another and all are expected to contribute to the formulation of investment strategies as well as execution .
“ We ask that traders here are not simply executing - in that they ' re integral to the investment decision making process and they are working side by side with the senior PMs that lead those strategies ,” explains Campbell .
While traders don ’ t have the authority to load up trades , outside of execution they are expected to collaborate with their portfolio managers to bring value add to the investment process by making suggestions around idea generation and execution .
“ You ’ re taught to almost think like a PM . They want trade generating ideas ,” says Daniel Grimstead , developed markets credit trader , and 18-year BlueBay stalwart .
The trading team work closely in tandem with portfolio managers when preparing a strategy . For convertible bonds trader Philip Steel , one of the most important things to assess is how to get out of a trade when discussing getting into a potential trade or strategy . While to the naked eye this attitude may seem defeatist , Steel – who has an impressive 16 years under his belt at BlueBay - says it
44 // TheTRADE // Q3 2023