Austen Robilliard from IWP Investment Management is our Fund Selector of the Month

Austen Robilliard is the Investment Director of IWP Investment Management, having joined Murdoch Asset Management (who were later acquired by IWP) in 2007 as a trainee investment analyst. Today Austen manages the internal portfolios at IWP, including the Murdoch MPS range, heads the investment team and leads the development of the wider group’s central investment proposition (CIP).

Austen is a self-described fund geek and has become a well-known and respected analyst within the UK funds industry. He is also a two time winner of European Fund Selector of the Year at the International Investment Awards and a Fellow of the Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment (CISI).

Can you walk us through your experience in fund selection?  When and how did you start your career in the financial sector?

My first role in financial services was on the operations department at Towry Law, before moving to Murdoch Asset Management as a trainee analyst in 2007 – just as the credit crunch was starting.  This experience, particularly the fall-out shaped my views on risk management and the importance of liquidity. During the subsequent 17 years, my role has evolved to include more capital allocation decisions, risk management, ESG analysis and product development, but I remain a fund selector at heart.

Taking a brief look at your working life, what would you highlight about your professional career?

I have been fortunate to win a number of accolades during my career to date, but winning gongs pails in comparison to the gratitude from clients whose lives you’ve impacted for the better because of the out-performance they’ve experienced.

What aspects do you consider most important when selecting a fund for a portfolio? Which ratios and metrics do you consider most important when including a fund in your portfolio?

Having an investment philosophy is the place to start as this guides all portfolio construction and subsequent fund selection. Then having a clear investment thesis, i.e. what are you buying this fund for and what job is it designed to fill? I consider myself more of a qualitative analyst, I analyse people, processes and capital allocation decision making and no one metric captures all of this – they all have their limitations – but if pushed the AR Ratio does better than most when determining skill over luck.

What is the current asset allocation of your model portfolios?  Which sectors or geographies would you highlight?

I manage a number of different risk-graded models, each designed to meet specific risk and objectives parameters.  A common theme is the philosophy and portfolio construction rules, the role we serve our clients is to deliver long-term wealth creation and everything we do is around maximising long-term returns within the confines of the risk budget.

What mistakes are most frequently made in fund selection?

There are two mistakes which jump out at me, the first is made by managers and selectors alike – and that is believing your own hype. Performance is an output, it’s a by-product of all the analysis put in, but one you never have control over. The second mistake is forgetting what the purpose of funds really are and what role they play in portfolios. There is so much pressure to do well in the short-term, but few funds are short-term investments and actively managed funds in particular require a longer-term investment horizon.

What assets do you think will perform better in 2024?

I try to avoid making short-term predictions as it’s luck not skill and I would be deluding myself if I thought I could add value by doing so. I have opinions on which asset classes look unduly cheap and have upside potential, whether they do well in 2024 or take longer to appreciate I don’t know, but UK mid caps and infrastructure are two areas which have been hit by negative sentiment but where fundamentals have been resilient.

If you could only ask the fund manager one question, what would it be?

'What does success mean to you and how do you measure it?'

How has the work of the fund selector changed in recent years? How do you think it will evolve in the coming years?

The quality of fund selectors has improved markedly over the past few years, technology and resources are enabling analysts to become better and better. Consolidation is a theme that will affect more and more industry practitioners and the impact of this will see evolution in the fund selector space. The growth in demand for sustainable products has also impacted the role of fund selectors and this is a trend that will be with us for many years to come. Fund selectors as a rule of thumb are generalists in that they cover a plethora of different areas, but they are expected to be ESG specialists on top of their existing duties.

When you have free time, what do you like to do?

My kids keep me busy, especially with all their extra-curricular activities, but I’ve recently joined my local tennis league (much to the disappointment of my teammates) and during lockdown I got into chess.