Over its 15-year life, the Cathay Global Aggressive Fund of Fund has built a reputation as a consistently strong performer with its proven strategy of investing in international equity funds.

The Manager has a straightforward investment process that combines top-down asset allocation, followed by selecting optimum investment funds in each category. A detailed review of general economic conditions and industry trends determines fund mix and weightings with current technology funds' most significant allocation. The type of fund with the most considerable allocation is growth.

ESG is a prominent factor in overall strategy as investment funds must have formulated ESG investment principles and governance before being considered. Following the investment, funds are required to report quarterly on their ESG activities.

According to cited examples, the Manager responded promptly to the pandemic and has actively rebalanced the Fund holdings to manage risk by reducing China exposure in the past year due to trade issues with the US. The maximum drawdown of the portfolio is limited, and the recovery time is short, inferring commendable risk management.

We note the disciplined approach to managing the fund's investment managers whereby if performance falls below average due to a deviation in investment style, no annual bonus is paid. If style drifts are repeated for two consecutive years, the Manager will be replaced.

The fund delivered an excellent and stable performance with net returns of more than 301 points above the benchmark on a 1Y, 3Y, 5Y, and 10Y period. Performance over 15 years was a cumulative performance of 104.2%, i.e., an IRR equals 4.87%. After management fees of 1% and custodian fees of 0.13%, the annual net return has been 3.74%.

This fund has been reviewed by three industry veterans of the Benchmark judging committee.