Bogdan Popescu is our Sales Manager of the Month, he is the European Sales Director of JO Hambro Capital. He started working at JO Hambro 5 years ago and he is currently covering Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, Monaco, Roman Switzerland and Spain. He is a Seasoned Asset Management Sales Director, with exposure to all asset classes and all types of clients and an outstanding track record in terms of Business Development in France, Benelux, Switzerland & Monaco.
Interview
From your entire professional career, do you remember a particularly difficult year or stage? What was the main reason?
The most difficult year/stage of my career was certainly 2008. The main reason is the obvious reason: GFC. The second reason was that I had just took a new role when GFC hit us, which added to the uncertainty of the situation. However, despite a bad start I ended the year in positive territory! Indeed, we had a US deep value fund. Thanks to it, and to some very contrarian clients, I managed to raise money during GFC. Worth noting in today’s environment.
If you could give one career advice to young professionals in the industry what would that be?
I am not very good at giving advice. But whatever the stage of the career and whatever the profession, I believe that individuals should make sure they enjoy what they are doing, otherwise they will not be able to carry on for long. Then it is important to stay connected, to interact correctly and to show respect. Last but not least, forward-thinking is essential; a quintessential question is “what do I want to do in five or ten years’ time?”
Taking into consideration the current market situation, which assets do you think will perform better in 2020? Any safe-haven assets?
My own experience in the markets and in life, in general, demonstrate that there is no safe haven. I shall not try to speculate or guess about which asset classes will perform in 2020. As a firm, we do not have a chief economist. Nor do we have a one-mould investment process or scenario. Each team is free to implement its own process, be it top-down or bottom-up, within the rules set by the fund prospectus and the investment guidelines, of course. This ensures freedom of thinking and nimbleness.
I am not entirely sure that a sole focus on performance is the best way of looking at the current situation. The global impact of the sanitary crisis could and should make us think in a more sustainable way. I would tend to believe that, in the long term, the best businesses and hence investments will be those businesses that are able to implement a responsible and sustainable business model.
What is your advice to investors, how should they position themselves with the current environment?
Investors should always look at liquidity and the quality and stability of the investment team and process. We have also seen price distortions in ETFs during the crisis that should make investors consider carefully their choice in terms of passive versus active.
Could you tell us some specifics that come with your role as Head of Sales, what is your main focus in this position?
I am European Sales Director in charge of French-speaking and Southern Europe (Spain, Portugal, Italy). My main focus is wholesale investors but we actively follow also asset owners, i.e. pure institutional clients. I have the pleasure to work in a geographic area with significant cultural diversity, which is enriching and stimulating.
Could you tell us the most difficult aspects of your job and also the most positive one? Could you highlight an event in your professional career that stands out and that you are very proud of?
I would not say really difficult but at certain moments my job necessitates extensive travelling. Whist I definitely love that, it also requires some preparation and logistics. The things I am most proud of are not necessarily correlated to the size of the deals that I have made, but more to the nature of those deals, especially when they have opened new avenues of business and those deals were achieved in Asia or the Middle East, in different business cultures and environments.
