Citywire Wealth Manager Retreat 2026

Many of today’s investors have substantial cash allocations designed to reduce risk and/or help liquidity.  Are they missing out on growth and yield?  Join our Fixed Income Investment Specialist Adam Dmochowski as he explains the benefits of one of the best risk-adjusted assets classes, how it can be used in portfolios and how Aberdeen’s approach differs.  Is it time for your clients to take a step out of cash into a low volatility outcome orientated fund with strong income potential?  Find out in this session.

Workshop Objective: 

To enhance participants’ understanding of the role of cash and fixed income in portfolio construction, including the risk-return characteristics of fixed income investments and the key considerations when assessing asset allocation decisions in different market environments.

Company Profile: 

Our spirit is our strength.

For over a century, we’ve carried our Scottish spirit with us in everything we do. Our sense of adventure has taken us to new markets, and our courage to invest when others haven’t has unlocked global opportunities. Our resilience through challenging markets has formed the foundation of our long-term strategy.

We are a global specialist asset manager, managing £383.4bn in assets for clients across 80 countries, with experts on the ground in more than 25 locations*. Our confidence allows us to harness our knowledge and focus on our core strengths so we can keep delivering for our clients.

Investment involves risk and possible loss of capital

*All data, facts and figures are as of 31 March 2026.

View Presentation

Step inside Acadian’s investment engine as Portfolio Manager Tim Ellerton reveals how a systematic process is designed to offer investors an attractive alternative to passive investing. In a live model demonstration, he will show how tighter risk controls with low tracking error (1-2%) lead to higher expected active risk-return tradeoffs (i.e. higher information ratio, or IR).

Workshop Objectives:

Explore how enhanced equity is a compelling alternative to passive implementations and why a sophisticated systematic process is well-suited to providing consistent alpha for investors and monetising their beta exposure.

Company Profile:

Acadian Asset Management is a global, systematic investment manager founded in 1986 and headquartered in Boston, with offices in London, Singapore, and Sydney. A pioneer in data-driven investing, the firm combines deep research, rich datasets, and advanced technology to identify market inefficiencies. With over 40 years of experience and over $232bn in AUM, Acadian manages equity and credit strategies designed to deliver consistent active returns through a transparent, disciplined, and continuously evolving investment process.

View Presentation

Workshop Objectives:

Against a backdrop of mounting market risks, we explain how a directional view on investing in volatility can be highly effective during market volatility spikes and equity sell-offs. More specifically, we will present volatility as an investable asset class capable of generating uncorrelated returns, provided it is managed actively and efficiently. We will also examine the key technical features of volatility that must be assessed when constructing a portfolio - including its term structure, convexity, and sensitivity to market regimes. The session will highlight the implementation considerations and risk controls required to capture volatility’s defensive and return-enhancing properties within a diversified allocation. This framework aims to help investors better understand volatility’s role in today’s uncertain market environment while supporting more resilient portfolio construction over time.

Company Profile:

Amundi is the largest European asset manager, ranking among the top 10 managers globally. Amundi currently manages close to €2.6 trillion of assets.
With six international investment hubs, comprehensive research capabilities, and a long-standing commitment to responsible investing, Amundi is a leader in the international asset management landscape.

View Presentation

Over the past 20 years, investors have grown accustomed to dramatic change — ecommerce, social media and mobile computing each overturned decades-old business models. Yet the period ahead will dwarf those shifts.

Artificial intelligence is not just another technology trend — it is a new foundation for the global economy. For most of the software era, large hardware projects were treated as unattractive. AI is reversing that hierarchy: software now demands enormous physical infrastructure, and the material world can no longer be an interchangeable backend.

To date, AI has been misclassified as a software story, when it is in fact the opening of a new industrial age — chips, robots, factories, energy, datacentres, space. Returns will be decided as much by power stations and chip supply as by research breakthroughs.

Assuming things revert to how they were, is today's real danger. The prudent course is meaningful exposure to what is inevitable — owning the companies shaping the intelligence paradigm, the most important companies in the AI value chain, and those building the future in transport, healthcare, finance and beyond. Scottish Mortgage gives investors a single route into all of it — public and private companies, across every sector building the future.

Workshop Objectives:

• Understand why artificial intelligence marks the opening of a new industrial age and a new foundation for the global economy — not simply another technology trend.

• Understand why software now demands enormous physical infrastructure, and why investing in AI means understanding the physical economy — chips, energy and infrastructure — not just the code built on top of it.

• Understand why meaningful exposure to the companies shaping this intelligence paradigm, across every sector and both public and private markets, is essential to maximising returns and capturing the scale of opportunity ahead — and why Scottish Mortgage is built to provide it.
  

Company Profile:

Baillie Gifford’s sole business is investment management. Since the company was founded in 1908 it has been a partnership. Today it is owned by 54 partners (as at 30 June 2026) all of whom work in the business.
We believe that the best investment ideas spring from thinking about future possibilities, not short-term probabilities. We set no barriers to the imagination of our investors, encouraging fresh perspectives and the use of diverse sources of information. We term ourselves Actual Investors.
We currently manage or advise some £197bn (as at 30 June 2026) on behalf of clients worldwide. Whilst we are predominantly an institutional manager (circa 80% of FUM), we offer an extensive range of investment trusts and open-ended funds to UK wealth managers and intermediaries. 

View Presentation

Michael Baron, Portfolio Manager at Baron Capital, will outline how AI is disrupting industries and contributing to a widening divide between companies positioned to benefit and those at risk of being left behind. He will discuss opportunities not only among leading AI innovators, but also among overlooked companies that may be well positioned to adapt and thrive as AI reshapes their industries and why active management is key to this. The discussion will also include examples of companies that he believes will benefit from this over the long-term.

Workshop Objective:

• Assess how AI is disrupting industries and contributing to a widening divide between companies positioned to benefit and those at risk of being left behind.
• Identify opportunities not only among leading AI innovators, but also among overlooked companies that may be well positioned to adapt and thrive as AI reshapes their industries.
• Evaluate how active management and a balanced, long-term approach can provide exposure to AI's potential without concentrating a portfolio in a single investment theme.

Company Profile: 

Baron Capital is a premier asset management firm focused exclusively on delivering growth equity investment solutions to institutions, financial advisors, and individual investors. Since its founding in 1982, Baron Capital has been united under one style of investing with a single objective–to be long-term investors in secular growth businesses with durable competitive advantages, run by great management teams. With $69.7 billion in assets under management (as of 30/06/26) across 26 strategies, Baron Capital prides itself on delivering the best solutions and outcomes for clients globally.

View Presentation

Capital Group's New Economy Fund seeks long-term growth by investing in innovative companies at the forefront of change. The strategy utilises Capital Group’s bottom-up research platform to identify fast-growing companies driving innovation across the global economy, uncovering both well-known leaders and less obvious opportunities. The strategy has delivered robust results for more than 40 years.

Company Profile:

Since 1931, Capital Group has been dedicated to improving people’s lives through successful investing. Our commitment to that mission has fostered lasting relationships with investors and financial intermediaries built on trust, integrity, excellent service and investment results.

The world’s largest active fund manager
As a privately owned company with a strong financial foundation, we have been free to prioritise our clients’ best interests and objectives for nearly a century. Success in that regard has helped spur our growth, leading to a scale that enables us to offer competitive fees and continue to develop new capabilities for our clients and partners.

View Presentation

Every day brings a new AI headline, either adding to the excitement or casting doubt on the long-term story. In a market where momentum can quickly overshadow fundamentals, we focus on what ultimately matters: challenging consensus, looking beyond the most obvious beneficiaries and, above all, remaining disciplined on valuation.
Hyperscalers, hardware, software: where does the risk/reward remain attractive, and who can ultimately capture the economics of the AI revolution?
During this workshop, we will address these questions through the investment lens of Kristofer Barrett, a long-term technology investor with a differentiated perspective on where opportunities—and excesses—are emerging across the AI value chain.

Workshop Objectives:

Show how active management can add value in technology by looking beyond market narratives, identifying differentiated opportunities across the AI value chain and maintaining strong valuation discipline.

Company Profile:

Carmignac is a family and employee-owned company and one of the leading independent investment management boutiques in Europe. Founded in 1989, Carmignac values excellence and relies on a strong entrepreneurial culture, which is reflected in the freedom and courage the investment team leverages to develop strong convictions and implement them.

We are committed partners to our clients. Our sole mission is to offer investors the best of active and alternative management to help them fulfil their long-term goals whilst contributing towards building a more sustainable world. We are transparent about our investment decisions and always take responsibility, prioritising the interests of our clients. We have made this conviction our brand signature: “Investing in your interest”.

View Presentation

No single style factor or macro stance leads in every market environment. Leadership rotates unpredictably – between value and growth, defensive and cyclical, momentum-driven rallies and sharp reversals. Rather than trying to predict what will lead next, investors can build portfolios designed for resilience across shifting market regimes.

Causeway portfolio manager Joe Gubler explores how a disciplined, systematic multi-factor approach to global equities can dynamically balance exposures – helping investors navigate these shifts in pursuit of consistent long-term active returns.

Workshop Objectives:

Attendees will gain insight into how market leadership rotates unpredictably across style factors and macro regimes – shifting between value and growth, defensive and cyclical, rallies and reversals – rather than following any consistent, predictable pattern.

Company Profile:

Causeway Capital Management is an independently owned investment management firm, specialising in active equity strategies that span the globe. We combine fundamental and quantitative research disciplines to manage International, Global, Emerging Markets, and Small Cap strategies. Headquartered in Los Angeles and established in 2001, we oversee $79 billion of assets for institutional investors across North America, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia Pacific.  

View Presentation

The rise of passive investing has transformed the investment landscape, offering investors low-cost market exposure. Yet no index is the market; each is constructed according to a distinct set of rules and decisions that can meaningfully influence investment outcomes. And as increasing amounts of capital have become linked to indices, these rules and decisions have come to shape broader market dynamics in important ways.
 
In this session, we will explore the frictions and challenges associated with index implementation, including the effects of reconstitutions, liquidity considerations, and the often-overlooked impact of index design choices. We will also examine how investors with the flexibility to accept modest tracking error may be able to mitigate these frictions while maintaining their desired market exposure.

Workshop Objectives:

Understand how index design decisions may impose invisible costs that cause an index to lag the market.

Company Profile:

Since 1981*, Dimensional has sought to provide better investment outcomes for clients through a transparent, rules-based approach that combines the knowledge gained from rigorous theoretical and empirical research with thoughtful and effective implementation. Four decades of practical experience have enabled Dimensional to gain insights about operating in competitive markets, and to hone our ability to manage the tradeoffs that we believe matter for performance. 

Dimensional has over 1,600 employees across our 15 global offices and manages $1.08T of client assets across equity, fixed income and other asset classes (figures as at 30 June 2026). Owned primarily by current and former employees and headquartered in Austin, Texas, Dimensional maintains investment offices in Santa Monica, Charlotte, London, Dublin, Sydney, Singapore, and Tokyo, in addition to client service offices in Vancouver, Toronto, Amsterdam, Berlin, Munich, Melbourne, and Hong Kong.
*1981 refers to the opening of Dimensional’s US office

View Presentation

Geopolitical uncertainty and shifting market dynamics have led to a period of elevated volatility across Emerging Markets. Global Emerging Markets Portfolio Manager Chris Tennant will explore how the investment case for the asset class is evolving, shaped by shifting policy dynamics, growing dispersion between markets and sectors, and themes such as commodities strength and the AI supply chain. 

Workshop Objectives:

• Gain a deeper understanding of emerging market equities
• Examine the case for the asset class in today’s evolving world
• Explore how an active approach can help navigate this dispersed opportunity set

Company Profile:

Fidelity International offers investment solutions and services and retirement expertise to more than 2.9 million customers globally. As a privately held, purpose-driven company with a 50-year heritage, we think generationally and invest for the long term. Operating in more than 25 locations and with $1,062.3 billion in total assets, our clients range from central banks, sovereign wealth funds, large corporates, financial institutions, insurers, and wealth managers, to private individuals. Our Workplace & Personal Financial Health business provides individuals, advisers and employers with access to world-class investment choices, third-party solutions, administration services and pension guidance. Together with our Investment Solutions & Services business, we invest $698.1 billion on behalf of our clients. By combining our asset management expertise with our solutions for workplace and personal investing, we work together to build better financial futures.  

View Presentation

Emerging markets debt has transformed into one of the most dynamic and diverse segments of the global fixed income universe. As the asset class continues to evolve, investors are finding compelling opportunities to generate income, enhance diversification, and improve portfolio resilience. In this session, we will examine the macroeconomic, fundamental, and technical drivers shaping emerging markets debt today and explore where the most attractive opportunities may lie across the opportunity set. We will also discuss how stronger country fundamentals and more supportive market conditions are influencing investment outcomes and why investors may be able to access these benefits without necessarily taking additional risk. Whether you currently allocate to emerging markets debt or are considering the asset class for the first time, this discussion will provide practical insights into its evolving role within modern fixed income portfolios. 

Workshop Objective: By the end of this session, participants will be able to:

• Identify the key segments of the emerging markets debt universe and their respective investment characteristics.
• Evaluate the relationship between sovereign fundamentals, market technicals, and investment outcomes in emerging markets debt.
• Explain the potential contribution of emerging markets debt to portfolio income, diversification, and risk management 
  

Company Profile: In 1924, MFS launched the US’ first open-end mutual fund to give everyday investors access to the markets. One hundred years later, as a full-service global investment manager serving financial advisors, intermediaries and institutional clients, we celebrate a century of active management. Tested and refined across market environments, our investing approach combines collective expertise, long-term discipline and thoughtful risk management to create value responsibly for clients. Supported by our culture of shared values and collaboration, our teams of diverse thinkers actively debate ideas and assess material risks to uncover what we believe are the best investment opportunities in the market. 

View Presentation

Europe's small and mid-caps have rallied – so is the opportunity over? Not even close. Despite a strong 2025, the valuation gap versus large caps remains near historic extremes. Europe isn't in crisis, and even against a backdrop of renewed geopolitical tensions, small and mid-caps are still priced as if it were. For active investors, that disconnect could be the real opportunity. Join us to find out why the market may be underestimating Europe's next growth phase.

Workshop Objective:

• Provide an overview of the European small-cap market

• Understand why now is the time to take advantage of the 'small-cap effect'

• Learn the attributes to look for to help choose a SMID cap fund

Company Profile: We are an independent active asset manager that truly believes accountability drives the right outcomes from high-conviction, long-term sustainable investing. Mirabaud Asset Management is part of the Mirabaud Group, an international provider of bespoke financial and advisory services established in 1819 in Geneva, Switzerland.  We became the independent, pure-play investment arm of the Group in 2012. Since then, we have developed capabilities across fixed income, equities, and private assets, offering a range of investment solutions that align with our clients' objectives and share their principles. Our strong sense of purpose, deep-rooted through seven generations of private ownership, defines our approach to asset management.

View Presentation

Morgan Stanley Investment Management presents the MS INVF Strategic Income Fund, a flexible multi-sector fixed income strategy focused on higher-yielding “plus” sectors including securitized credit, high yield, emerging markets debt and convertibles. The fund seeks to combine attractive income, competitive returns, lower volatility and reduced correlation to traditional core bond markets while maintaining an average investment-grade credit profile. Current positioning favours selected securitized assets and emerging market opportunities while remaining cautious on investment-grade credit and certain loan markets. The presentation highlights strong demand for the strategy, attractive portfolio characteristics, experienced portfolio managers, and a long-term track record from the related Strategic Income strategy composite that has historically outperformed broad bond benchmarks and key peers.

Workshop Objectives:

Explore how a flexible, multi-sector bond strategy can enhance portfolio income, diversification and risk-adjusted returns by accessing global fixed income opportunities beyond traditional core bond allocations.

Company Profile:

Morgan Stanley Investment Management (U.S. MSIM)
Morgan Stanley Investment Management provides broad-based specialization across a range of asset classes in public and private markets. Our independent investment teams leverage Morgan Stanley’s global resources to serve a diverse client base of governments, institutions, corporations, advisors and individuals worldwide. Our investment solutions include a broad range of alternatives, high-conviction active strategies, customization strategies, ESG expertise and tax management solutions. Learn more at www.morganstanley.com/im.

The size of the market for Corporate Hybrid Bonds has grown from close to zero in 2012 to over 400 billion US dollars – equivalent - today. The issuers are mainly very high quality, 'household name' non-financial companies – such as SSE, National Grid and Vodafone – and the structure is relatively investor-friendly. Furthermore, Corporate Hybrid bonds are becoming an increasingly significant part of the major Investment Grade bond indices. Yet, many investors have little understanding of these bonds' characteristics and often mistake them for 'Coco's'. This session will look to explain what corporate hybrid bonds are, why they are currently attractive and discuss how they can enhance the risk-adjusted returns of a fixed income portfolio. 

Workshop Objective: Understand what Corporate Hybrid bonds are, why they are attractive and how they fit into a fixed income portfolio. 

View Presentation

AI is often discussed as a monolith. Either service providers, datacentre operators, frontier model developers, and chipmakers all make money and the buildout continues apace, or they don't and the buildout slows. For bottom-up stockpickers, this framing ignores the medley of partnerships and negotiations which define competitive strategy in the space. A customer in one area may be a supplier in another and a rival in a third. Picking stocks within AI is not the same as simply betting on AI. In this presentation, we unpack the dynamics at play within the broader ecosystem, and a range of scenarios that could affect the individual players in different ways. In doing so, we'll discuss where we have found opportunities, whether it be the underappreciated beneficiaries and enablers of AI, or businesses that are largely agnostic to the buildout altogether.

Workshop Objectives:

Understand key AI value chain players, assess scenario impacts, and identify underappreciated beneficiaries, overlooked companies, or AI agnostic businesses where market perceptions may create compelling investment opportunities for investors.

Company Profile:

Orbis has been creating value for clients for more than 35 years. 
We work to find opportunities others miss, but this means investing in unpopular areas of the market, which takes courage and patience. Our long-term approach is at the core of everything we do, from the way we invest, the company structure, and even the way we charge fees. 
Our team of 60 investment professionals located around the world does comprehensive research evaluating businesses from the bottom up to identify businesses priced at less than they are worth with long-term prospects. Since it can take time for these companies to realise their true value, our business is structured to avoid pressure for short-term performance with no external shareholders. Our independence allows us to prioritise clients, make bold but considered decisions and to stand by them as long as we need to. 
And our unique fee structure ensures we remain driven to deliver long-term returns.

View Presentation

Fixed income has staged a comeback and the smart money is already moving. With yields at their most attractive in over a decade and the economy and credit cycle reaching a genuine inflection point, bonds are no longer the portfolio's supporting act. In a market this finely balanced, knowing where the value lies matters more than ever. Increasingly, the edge comes from allocating actively across the full global opportunity set rather than standing still. Join us as PIMCO's strategists cut through the noise to share where they see the real opportunities across global fixed income, why the case for quality duration has rarely been stronger, and how active allocation across regions, sectors and credit quality can position portfolios as the cycle turns. Whether you're fine-tuning existing allocations or looking for your next source of income, we hope this is the conversation that will shape how you approach bonds for the year ahead.

Company Profile:

PIMCO is a global leader in active fixed income with deep expertise across public and private markets. We invest our clients’ capital in income and credit opportunities that span the liquidity spectrum, leveraging our decades of experience navigating complex debt 
markets. Our flexible capital base and deep relationships with issuers have helped us become one of the world’s largest providers of traditional and alternative investment solutions and a valued financing partner.

View Presentation

Emerging markets are becoming an increasingly important driver of global economic growth, yet many investors remain underweight the asset class. This session will explore the structural opportunities across emerging markets, the sources of market inefficiency that create alpha potential, and how the Rathbone Global Emerging Markets Fund seeks to capture these opportunities through a diversified, style-agnostic and actively managed approach.

Workshop Objectives:

Understand the investment case for EM, by exploring the economic and demographic drivers underpinning long-term growth.

Identify where active management can add value by understanding the impacts of governance, regulation, market structure and information efficiency.

Company Profile:

Rathbones Asset Management is a UK fund manager, with 16.3 billion AUM (as at 30 June 2026). We offer actively managed equity, fixed income and multi-asset capabilities including a wide range of sustainable strategies. 
 
We manage your investments with a clear goal: generate alpha consistently over time. Our long-term performance track record as an active, high conviction manager is built on a culture of empowerment, independent thinking, and institutional discipline. 

View Presentation

The political, trade, and financial architecture that shaped global markets through the late 20th and early 21st centuries is undergoing significant change. Rising geopolitical fragmentation, increasing protectionism, technological disruption, and elevated public debt burdens in developed economies are reshaping the investment landscape and contributing to higher volatility. 
Importantly, many of today’s macroeconomic and financial shocks are originating in developed markets rather than emerging ones. While developed economies grapple with fiscal constraints and shifting policy regimes, many emerging market sovereigns have strengthened their macro frameworks through improved credit quality, more credible monetary policy, and more disciplined fiscal management. Despite this progress, emerging market debt continues to offer a meaningful yield premium relative to developed market fixed income, supporting its role as a source of income and diversification.

Workshop Objectives:

To explore how emerging market debt can provide income and diversification in today’s volatile environment, and how a disciplined, bottom up investment approach can identify relative value across sovereign and corporate opportunities.

Company Profile:

Stone Harbor is an emerging markets debt manager with three decades of informed experience allocating risk in complex areas of the fixed income markets.

Stone Harbor’s investment team – portfolio managers, credit analysts, economists, quantitative analysts, and risk management professionals – engages in disciplined and regular collaboration to carefully construct their global macroeconomic outlook and strategic allocation framework. Stone Harbor is a research-driven firm, drilling deeply into the fundamentals to determine the attractiveness of individual credits, currencies, interest rates, and yield curves to find the best investments within select asset classes.

Stone Harbor Investment Partners is a division of Virtus Fixed Income Advisers, LLC (“VFIA”), an SEC registered investment adviser.

View Presentation