Our Approach

For more than a decade, we have helped Canadian investors achieve their investment objectives by providing innovative fixed income solutions focused on corporate bonds. We firmly believe that there is a better way to manage bond portfolios than a passive “coupon-clipping” approach. We employ a highly active approach that focuses on generating steady returns and preserving capital during volatile markets. There are a number of aspects to our approach which mark us out as a unique investment manager.

We have assembled a team with deep expertise in managing bond portfolios, and paired this team with institutional quality risk management systems. We have committed to investing in proprietary technology and have been incorporating ESG factors in our decision-making process long before it became fashionable to do so. Finally, we have designed thoughtful investment solutions for our clients that provide them with a better risk-adjusted return from fixed income.

Our Investment Strategies

Capitalize on opportunities

We believe RPIA’s investment strategies have been constructed to generate risk-adjusted returns in all market environments. We aim to achieve this by building portfolios based on absolute risk-and-return targets rather than tracking fixed income benchmarks. This approach provides us with an opportunity to capitalize on what we believe are persistent inefficiencies in corporate bond markets and use additional tools with the aim of preserving capital. We blend deep-dive fundamental analysis with tactical trading strategies to achieve the goal of producing a unique return profile for our investors.

Why "go active" in Credit

Pursuing value in an inefficient market

Active management is all about the potential for an investment manager to add value over a passive and often cheaper approach to investing. When investors are allocating to more inefficient and less transparent asset classes, like fixed income, it can make sense to partner with an active manager who could add value.

How we invest in Credit

Opportunities from a flexible approach

In today’s low yield environment, investors need a new approach to generate a reasonable return from fixed income and manage the associated risks and market volatility. At RPIA, we utilize an expanded toolkit that allows us to access opportunities generally unavailable to the traditional fixed income investor. Capturing these additional sources of potential return and managing risk effectively are key drivers for our strategies.

Explore our toolkit

How we manage Risk

Backed by a highly experienced team

At RPIA, we are keenly aware that when it comes to managing our investors’ fixed income investments, prudent risk management and capital preservation in difficult markets is essential. In our view this starts with the quality, strength and experience of the people who are managing the capital day-in-day-out backed up by continued investment in systems and technology.

See how we dissect risk

Where Credit fits in your portfolio

Defying tradition

Meeting investment goals with a traditional portfolio of bonds and equities is likely going to get more and more difficult. The traditional approach of bonds and equities worked well in an era of all-time low interest rates and suppressed volatility. We believe that today’s asset valuations are at elevated levels, and so forward-looking return expectations are considerably lower than many of us have become accustomed to.

Learn about our strategies

How we use Technology

Embracing disruption

Advancements in technology have had a dramatic impact on the investment industry. The instant availability of information has made it harder for investors to gain a knowledge advantage and the broad market’s quick reaction to financial news has increased market volatility. Fixed income markets have proven more difficult to automate, the human element in trading remains, and inefficiencies in valuation and pricing still exist. However, within the corporate bond market, proprietary technology can be used to help portfolio managers screen the market to find opportunities. We believe the best way to achieve success is to pair cutting edge technological tools with expertise in hands-on portfolio management.

How we use technology

How we incorporate ESG

Aligned to the values of our investors

We have a long-standing commitment to incorporating Environmental, Social and Governance (“ESG”) factors in our investment decisions. Not only does this mean an alignment of interest with many of our investors. It also means we’re incorporating an expanded range of risk factors when analyzing companies. Testament to this commitment, we are a signatory of the UN Principles for Responsible Investing – the industry gold standard when it comes to ESG investing.

Learn more about our commitment