Summer Spotlight – Key Credit Insights
At Laz Partners, we have been busy this summer with several of our top clients retaining us for expansionary team buildouts and C-level hires across Credit Research & Portfolio Management.
Earlier this summer, we highlighted seeing a wave of replacement hiring within Credit Research, with a notable upside vs last year in available budgets to fill key roles.
From recent conversations with industry leaders, I have picked up on several additional overarching key trends & topics in Credit:
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Streamlining collaboration across functions: Industry leaders are increasingly looking to ease strict geographical coverage focus and spectrum coverage (IG/Crossover/HY), with senior leadership prioritizing driving cohesive growth narratives that drive performance across the spectrum whilst encompassing sectors & geographies, instead of siloing their Research & PM talent.
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The Role of Credit Research in Large Asset Managers: At a strategic level, Credit Research is still sometimes viewed as a support function (within broader Fixed Income), rather than a performance driver, although this widely varies from firm to firm. Though we are noticing increased awareness among Credit leaders that leveraging Credit Research can truly drive investment performance as an alpha-generating capability, challenges remain in quantifying how research functions positively impact performance within the asset management space. Securing buy-in (and resources) from other senior leaders when building out a best-in-class Credit Research team is oftentimes still an uphill battle, and typically, the more closely integrated set-ups (e.g., PMs & Analysts sitting closely together and regularly discussing new issuances & trade ideas) tend to see a closer link between research & the impact on performance.
In light of these trends & developments, and with Q3 & Q4 traditionally being our busiest periods of the year, we anticipate a further uptick in Credit hiring for the remainder of 2024.
If you are a hiring manager interested in leveraging Laz Partners’ data-driven market insights when attracting A-level talent for your team, or a top-tier PM or Credit Analyst interested in discussing opportunities - feel free to contact me at [email protected]. I would be happy to have a conversation and discuss these & other industry hiring trends in Credit.
