IAM campaign

A few days ago IAM’s new advertisement campaign was launched, with the claim “Asset Management is an art, not a science”.

In an environment where machine calculated investment products receive a larger and larger space, we are of the strong conviction, that the human person, its competences and its thinking are the essence of successful asset management.

Since the beginning, IAM has always believed in the following principals:

Active investment: Only if investing actively it is possible to generate an outperformance compared to the market. By passively buying the market (for example through an ETF), the investor will receive the market return less costs. Thanks to active investment the asset manager can select good investments and avoid bad ones. The result will not only be an outperformance, but also a risk control, as lower quality investments do not have to be held. An active approach however requires a deep understanding of markets and companies, in order to take long term successful investment decisions.

Anticyclical: everybody can follow the current tendency and at some points it makes sense to follow the saying „the trend is my friend“. However, in order to really benefit from a trend, it is necessary to early identify it and to position oneself according to it, even if in the beginning markets move against us. This requires judgment and the courage to stick to ones convictions and never to give up.

Traditional approach: we believe it is important only to invest in instruments which are secure and transparent, and which can be easily understood by any investor. This is the reason why we do not use any derivatives or structured products, but only traditional asset classes (equities, real estate and bonds); and whenever possible we invest in the real economy.

In short, asset management is an art. This is why we asked the Genevan artist JP Kalonji to illustrate our current campaign and our approach. But how can this art be depicted? Here we remained faithful to cycling, in order to present our values. The three pieces of art show:

• The mastering of a curve or of risk, as well as the assessment of opportunities thanks to our judgement
• Fighting spirit, which requires patience and discipline
• Success thanks to a perfect alignment and a common vision

Since our creation in 1995 we invest successfully assets for our clients – this thanks to our approach and our convictions, to which we have remained faithful through all the years.

Further information about the  IAM investment philosophy >>