Home About Us Career News Glossary DE EN FR IT Asset Management Products Solutions Publications Home Asset Management Our commitment Expertise Risk Management Our commitment Our values Our commitment Independence - a state of mind Many people approach finance with grand convictions. They are certain of the efficiency of the markets, certain that shares will prove their value "in time”, or again that bonds are secured assets. The reality of the financial markets is not so simple. The successive crises that we have been going through for several years have demonstrated the illusory nature of these assumptions. It is precisely when the market players invest on the basis of these certainties that they all buy the same securities at the same time. The results are the bubbles of speculation that expand and burst and give rise to ensuing financial crises. At Swiss Life Asset Managers, we believe that this vision of the markets engenders behaviour that constitutes a risk for the assets of our clients. We are convinced that the markets are not fundamentally efficient. We devise our investment models with an independence of mind that demands perseverance on our part in order to resist the temptation of short-term super-performance. We make a conscious choice for proactive management and continue to develop in-house tools that supplement our shared information systems, because openness of mind is a key to independence. For our clients, we have to cultivate our capacity for transparency and the explanation of our performance, including by calling our own convictions into question. Risk management, proven expertise in optimizing the management of our clients’ assets and in bringing peace of mind Prudence is a deliberately assumed choice that goes hand in hand with long-term regularity of the risk return ratio. This clear policy dictates our investment choices as a function of reliability and regularity of performance. To provide this financial security, our managers implement a specific investment process according to the particular asset classes. Risk management is not a separate activity but an expertise that is at the heart of our management process. Upstream, our managers put together their portfolios on the basis of a macro-economic and financial scenario, with risk management as the common thread. They join forces with our financial engineers in the search for the best risk-return ratio. Finally, risk monitoring ensures that the risk continues to be measured after the portfolio has been established. Performance analysis is also conducted to verify that the risk undertaken remains within the limits defined upstream and that it is appropriate to the defined investment process. Our responsibility to our customers also obliges us to invest permanently in our risk management tools and information systems, since the reliability of our data depends on the performance of these tools and systems and on their independence and ability to keep pace with changes over time. Downstream, these tools enable us to communicate with our clients in complete transparency by providing them with precise answers concerning our performance and risk monitoring. Confidence is at the heart of our client relations Trust is at the heart of the client-manager relation, and that is why we have chosen the name "Managers”. We are highly conscious of our responsibility every time our clients entrust us with the management of their assets, and we wish to testify that our management of their investments is proactive and personal. This profession is founded on trust and on the durable relations established between our clients and our teams. © Swiss Life Asset Management AG Feb 25, 2013 Asset Management Expertise Risk Management Our commitment Our values Products Funds Fund-linked products Swiss Life Investment Foundation Solutions ALM Services Mandates Publications Legal Notice Sitemap Search