Innovation, growth and performance

For me, growing up in the Islands, there was a sense of community and helping one another. It’s a community centered on mutual assistance, openness and honesty. A sense of security too: you can play in the street, go to the neighbour’s… My parents used to say jokingly: “You can leave your keys in your car, that way, you’ll know where they are… ”

Obviously, young people want to explore as they grow up, so you have to go elsewhere. That’s what I did by doing my university studies in Quebec City and Sherbrooke, and then, by traveling across the country, from Vancouver, where I lived for several years, to Ottawa, Toronto, Montreal, then back to Toronto in the early 2000s, where I spent a good part of my career. That’s where I developed my knowledge of fund management and product creation for retail and institutional investors.

I learned a lot as part of big investment teams. I was generally involved in research and meetings with global managers, discussions about sophisticated strategies and highly diversified investment vehicles. This enabled me to cultivate a network of contacts and business acquaintances on five continents. My recent experience at the Canadian Medical Association (CMA), where I was involved on the institutional side, allowed me to go further in terms of management models and our investment ideas.

At BMO Mutual Funds, in the 2000s, I undertook my first major independent search for an external manager for a new investment fund, and twenty years later, this fund still exists and is managed using the same strategy and by the same manager! Being able to put in place a product that is still in demand and that still meets client needs is a great source of satisfaction for me.

In 2008, at BMO Nesbitt Burns, I had to create a team from scratch, redo the process of evaluating and finding managers, and communicating our best investment ideas to brokers. What makes me happy about this period is that the people I hired are either still there, in the same extended team led by one of the persons I recruited, or are still active in the industry, at higher levels.

At NEI Investments, I structured the team to improve the product creation and portfolio management processes, including responsible investment, a product in which NEI was a leader at the time in terms of assets in Canada. We developed tactical management products that could react to changing market conditions. From 2011 to 2019, my team and I actively managed these products for the benefit of clients and I participated in the growth of a company whose assets of $3.5 billion had more than doubled by the time I left. I see many similarities with the development that fdp is currently experiencing.

The contact with fdp quickly proved to be a conclusive experience. I wanted to get closer to individual clients and, in learning about fdp, its requirements in terms of skills and its challenges, almost everything matched my past experiences in management, product development, responsible investment and also my ability to put in place solid, world-class processes, but with a vision focused on proximity with individual clients. fdp’s values resonate deeply with me, plus I wanted to come back to Quebec.

In my view, fdp is the ideal size to achieve its objectives: the resources are adequate and we’re able to implement personalized solutions with great agility.

I like to have an overview of processes and, at fdp, this objective is not only very stimulating, but also easy to achieve because the client is at the centre of everything we do. Our clients are also our shareholders, who represent the interests of their members, which allows for alignment and a very clear vision of our goals.

This alignment of interests is expressed in all our decisions and dictates all our choices because we must offer our clients the best solutions and not just maximize the firm’s profitability or have the latest innovation to keep up with trends at all costs. We must always ask ourselves questions: is this useful to our clients? Are we offering good value for what this costs?

I always try to understand the motivations of our clients and take them into account in our investment decisions. I’m a field person, I haven’t talked about it much, but at the very beginning of my career, I held positions where I was in direct and daily contact with clients. I like this spontaneous contact whenever possible and also contact with the teams who deal with clients on an ongoing basis. This allows us to ask the right questions: are our clients satisfied with what we’re creating for them? Do they like our products? And if so, why?

The team is the priority in the internal or external investment process. During my career, I have met hundreds and even thousands of global portfolio managers across all asset classes. And each time, I come back with the same questions: what is your experience? Describe your team to me. How do you work together, who makes the decisions?

I want to understand how it works because, for me, a team should be more than the sum of its parts. It must operate independently of each and be based on trust. It is this trust that enables people to work together effectively and that fosters achievements that, individually, would be impossible. Trust also helps avoid mistakes, because in investment, we’re often faced with problems. By encouraging team members to express their point of view and to question certain positions that may be extreme, or to point out changes, new factors, we can resolve situations much more easily.

In the field of investment, innovation and change are natural. Stability without changes is impossible because markets are always moving, even in terms of different investment products. Take private placements, for example, which are increasingly available to retail clients and provide added value. Or more complex structured products which use derivatives and which can create attractive investment opportunities. They didn’t exist ten years ago.

You have to keep up with these developments and even be enthusiastic about their possibilities, while making an informed distinction between what may be a brief and dangerous trend, and an investment theme that will last over time, with attractive return potential. Differentiating between the two requires a lot of experience and discipline, because the tendency is to go for the exciting new product.

Twenty years ago, we rarely talked about responsible investment. It was a specialized product that was more an area of activism where certain sectors considered inappropriate or undesirable were to be avoided. These values still apply, but we came to realize that there is a limit to that. Today, it’s no longer a specialty – it’s been integrated into sound investment practices.

The perception has changed over time because responsible investment is much more than a theme. Yes, some companies operate in sectors that don’t produce any social benefits, like tobacco for example. But if we think about one of our major current challenges, energy transition, my strategic thinking tells me that we must get involved in the debate and be agents of change.

Promoting change means working with many institutional investors to encourage companies to take appropriate measures that take climate change into account, for example, and to build an action plan to deal with this situation, to maintain or change their business model, if necessary.

Absolutely. Many studies have been done on what didn’t work or what should have worked to protect assets during recent crises and these considerations have prompted key developments in building more resilient portfolios during times of stress. This means constructing portfolios that react well, that can outperform the market during downturns. So it’s essential to decline as little as possible and to reduce the frequency and size of losses because they unsettle our clients. Our portfolios must also be very competitive in rising markets.

Yes, that’s right, and also to managing client emotions. At fdp, advisors and portfolio managers understand clients’ goals and can reassure them because these goals are integrated into the construction of our portfolios. We make sure to minimize the risks to keep our clients on the path to success. What I mean by that is that we want them to be able to get through the bad times comfortably, and enjoy a very attractive return during the better times. With this approach, we want to beat the markets, of course, but above all keep the trust of our clients. We don’t seek to generate satisfaction based solely on making a timely investment: we want to give our clients solid portfolios, invested in growth and value companies, well-diversified portfolios that will be successful over the long term.

I have a positive approach to the future and I believe we underestimate our ability to innovate and adapt our processes over the next ten or twenty years. I’m not saying it’s going to be easy, but I believe our firm has the ability to adapt and continue to grow and prosper, even considering future challenges. I think we can find ways to keep moving forward.

Moreover, because of the issues we’re faced with, some companies will enjoy significant growth and become leaders in new fields, and thus profitable investments. Many opportunities will arise. What we need to do is work with specialists to assess which technologies and sectors will be promising and who the leaders will be, which will create excellent investment opportunities for our clients.