Fixed Income: Systematic Solutions for Lower Carbon

Reducing greenhouse-gas emissions is at the forefront as countries across the globe strive to reach net zero by 2050. Investors are increasingly focused on sustainable investment and are gravitating towards strategies that can help them meet their ESG goals.

Alpha vs ESG?

Investors look to active managers to outperform an index. However, ESG solutions that reduce carbon exposure often call for excluding large sectors of the index which can come at a performance cost and/or additional tracking error.

Any solution that excludes material sectors such as Energy or Utilities is going to result in a different return profile compared to the index, as well as a smaller investible universe.

This is particularly pertinent to Australian superannuation funds that are subject to the ‘Your Future Your Super’ performance test administered by APRA.

How can funds pursue a sustainable fixed income investment strategy and yet outperform the relevant benchmark?

In partnership with Blackstone, this webinar will explore how investors can employ a systematic fixed income approach to decarbonisation while optimising for alpha.

Presenter

Tim Kasta, Senior Managing Director, Blackstone

Tim Kasta is a Senior Managing Director and Co-Head of Blackstone Credit’s Systematic Strategies unit. Prior to Blackstone’s acquisition of DCI in 2020, Tim was CEO of DCI, LLC, which he joined at its inception in 2004.

Before joining DCI, he was Partner and Managing Director of KMV LLC where he held a variety of roles, including designing and leading the development and marketing of the firm’s flagship web product – CreditEdge. After the sale of KMV to Moody’s in 2002, Mr. Kasta became Managing Director of Moody’s Analytics (formerly Moody’s KMV), where he was Co-Head of Business Development and Head of Product Development for the asset management sector.

Tim began his career in 1993 at Bank of Montreal in Toronto where he was one of the original members of the credit portfolio management team within corporate banking.

Tim is a CFA charter holder and received his Bachelor of Arts (HBA) from the Ivey Business School at Western University located in London, Ontario, Canada.