Ashish: Uncertainty is a permanent feature of the investment landscape and our compass for navigating fixed income markets on behalf of our clients recognizes this. We seek to access and diversify across the broad fixed income opportunity set. We also look for openings to capture risk premiums created by market inefficiencies, and we see value in utilizing currencies and rates as a hedge for risk asset exposures. Last but by no means least, we advocate a sustained focus on ESG analysis which, as discussed, we believe is an important investment discipline that can uncover investment opportunities and help us manage downside risks.
In a data-driven and technology-oriented world, a continuous cycle of innovation can help us make smarter investment decisions faster, and with greater precision, to deliver better client outcomes. Key innovations in our fixed income platform in recent years include digitized research, proprietary investment signals and trading intelligence. These innovations enable us to be dynamic and flexible in our allocations to the broad global bond opportunity set.
Niamh: We cannot overstate the benefit of technology in identifying attractive investment opportunities that integrate ESG analysis. Our digitized research platform, Fluent, allows for seamless integration of external data and internal analysis. It also enables us to track engagement with company management. This technology is therefore valuable for both assigning and monitoring proprietary ESG scores. It further enables transparency for our investment process, which is crucial in meeting the investment reporting needs of our clients, including for ESG-Enhanced portfolios. Finally, it provides a holistic view of investment research which can be connected with portfolio construction applications that portfolio managers utilise daily.