Active management

The results were “not just predicated on expense ratios,” an expert says.

“Just because someone’s charging 1% doesn’t mean you should take them off your list,” an expert says.

As liquidity disappeared amid the coronavirus-sparked mayhem, veteran fixed-income portfolio manager Gemma Wright-Casparius saw opportunities.

The purchase comes as active asset managers feel intensifying pressure to bulk up as they face stiff competition from passive and index-tracking funds.

Many of the executives selected this year say the industry’s future may lie in its sudden change to a fully virtual business model.

Funds advised by Katie Koch, whose firm has about $1.8 trillion under supervision, are beating their benchmarks at an 80% rate in 2020.

With few corners of the fixed-income industry safe from harm, investors’ faith in managers appears to be intact — for now.

“People are just saying, ‘Why should I pay for an active manager when most of them lose to the benchmark anyway?’ This is a big deal,” an expert says.

Even when the market was climbing to records earlier this year, John Miller’s risk appetite exceeded that of some of his peers.

Proponents have long touted the new structure as a way for the industry to compete with mutual funds.