< The 2014 All-Europe Fixed-Income Research Team
Lee Phillips,
Brian Upbin
& team Barclays First-Place Appearances: 3
Total Appearances: 3
Team Debut: 2012 It’s a third straight year at No. 1 for the Barclays crew, which is co-led this year by Lee Phillips in London and New York–based newcomer Brian Upbin. “Their research contains added value,” insists one supporter, “not just factual information.” The team, which also has members in Singapore and Tokyo, has been focused on how investors are “preparing for a rising-interest-rate environment across different bond markets,” says Upbin, 39. “Some are shortening the durations of their investment universes, while others are keeping their existing indexes but actively hedging their interest rate exposures.” To provide money managers with the flexibility to address this issue, last year the strategists launched a series of benchmarks that enable clients to adjust the durations of their fixed-income portfolios without sacrificing existing coverage and diversification. These new products employ liquid futures contracts to reflect and hedge the interest rate exposures of widely used Barclays fixed-income indexes. Also in 2013 the firm partnered with MSCI to launch fixed-income sustainability indexes to serve those seeking to integrate environmental, social and governance criteria into their bond investment processes. Investors are increasingly interested in finding models that weight benchmarks by metrics other than market capitalization, notes 40-year-old Phillips, and continue to find emerging-markets credits appealing for enhancing yield and spreading risk. “Their work is market leading,” cheers another advocate. Upbin joined Barclays in 2008, after eight years spent working on the Lehman Brothers index team. He earned an MBA at Connecticut’s Yale School of Management and holds a bachelor’s degree in international relations from the University of Pennsylvania.
