Whether it was turbulent stock markets, rocky fixed income markets or China’s economic headaches, the odds are that private banking clients who took Credit Suisse’s advice in 2022 did well.
The Swiss private bank’s Asia Pacific team, led by chief investment officer John Woods, managed to find alpha, or benchmark-beating returns, for clients everywhere – from global government debt issues and Chinese, Indonesian and Mexican equities to gold and oil, healthcare stocks, and sustainable investments.
It’s easy to see how Credit Suisse steered clients away from peril last year. One of the bank’s top Asia investment themes in 2022 was Bubble Trouble, focusing on de-risking Chinese property from high-yield portfolios and diversifying into the renminbi and US sovereign debt.
Sustainable China was another big trend. It emphasized green opportunities in Chinese utilities, renewables, electric vehicles and batteries.
The bank’s Bonds are Back view reckoned that after pricing in aggressive central bank tightening and improved yields, there was increasing value in short-duration, high-grade bonds.
The Geopolitical Hedges theme explored how and where to protect portfolios against ongoing geopolitical risk with commodities and defence and energy stocks.