Capabilities

Investment Solutions

The Investment Solutions team at Allspring is passionately committed to delivering exceptional, customized investment solutions. Our efforts are concentrated on achieving client objectives and exceeding desired outcomes, or what we call “outcome alpha.”

hero image

Explore key advantages

Dynamic tools backed by deep experience

Outcome-oriented process

Through an intimate discovery process, we seek to deeply understand client objectives and constraints before translating them into an investable portfolio.

Value-add expertise

We may enhance portfolios through targeted risk premia exposure, tactical asset allocation tilts, bottom-up security selection, and risk management.

Close collaboration

We work closely with portfolio managers to implement solutions. Together, we are accountable for performance to help our clients achieve their desired outcomes.

Open-architecture toolkit

We benefit from an extensive open-architecture investment toolkit containing passive, factor-based, fundamental, and derivative-based investment strategies.

Achieve outcome alpha

Your outcome is our benchmark

1) Turning desired outcomes into investable portfolios

  • Initiate discovery process with clients
  • Understand client objectives, constraints, and deeply rooted beliefs
  • Build the foundation for customized solutions

2) Leaving no stone unturned to maximize investment potential

  • Design holistic solutions through a rigorous yet flexible process
  • Leverage macroeconomic drivers to create a balanced foundation for returns
  • Further enhance portfolios through alternative strategies as appropriate

3) Marrying design and portfolio management to greatly raise the probability of success

  • Combine the intellectual power and breadth of our specialized investment teams
  • Create and implement client-specific solutions by collaborating with Systematic Edge portfolio managers
  • Consistently track performance to ensure accountability

4) Delivering outcome alpha

  • Aim to deliver performance at or above client objectives

Diverse solutions for diverse clients

We work with all client types, from sovereign wealth funds to intermediaries, to design both single-asset-class and multi-asset-class solutions that enable portfolio growth, preservation, or income generation. The below chart illustrates solutions that we have designed across several types of clients.

Clients include: Pensions, insurance, foundations and endowments, corporate balance sheets, sovereign wealth funds, financial institutions, wealth advisors and high net worth. Equity solutions: Equity enhanced income Multi-manager equity Risk-managed equity Multi-asset solutions services: Target risk/return/income solutions Retail SMA and model portfolios Tax-efficient multi-asset Downside risk management Liquid alternatives Liquidity analysis Inflation protection Outsourced CIO Fixed income solutions: Target yield solutions Regulatory capital solutions (BOLI and insurance) Liability-driven investing

Beyond traditional alpha lies the skill and ability to deliver on specific outcomes.

Frank Cooke, Head of International Solutions

Access to extensive, experienced, and global investment talent
$590B Global assets under advisement
20 Offices around the world
400+ Investment professionals globally
23 Average years of experience for portfolio managers
Meet objectives and deliver results

Case study: Options-based downside risk management

A U.K. pension fund entrusted the Investment Solutions team with devising a cost-efficient options overlay solution to protect downside risk for an equity portfolio.

Objectives

  • Provide a cost-efficient 90% target floor for the portfolio
  • Reduce equity and funding-level risk

  Solutions

  • A structural hedge to make equity exposure more palatable in the form of a calendar-put spread-collar solution
  • An enhanced implementation option strategy reducing the cost of protection based on decades of experience and our proprietary volatility forecast model

 Results

  • Changed shape of equities return distribution, good cost-benefit trade-off for a strategic hedge
  • Reduced risk in a strategic and cost-efficient way
  • Enabled continuous “always-on” equity protection
  • Included customized currency hedging as part of the solution

The diagram shows the payoff profile of an options strategy that aims to create a cost-efficient 90% target floor for a portfolio, acting as a permanent hedge to make equity exposure more manageable. It involves buying protective puts, selling puts to generate income, and selling calls for additional income. Specifically: •	Buy 100% notional, 12 month Puts 10% out-of-the-money. This Protects the portfolio as stock prices fall below 10%. •	Sell 50% notional, 1 to 3 month 0.05 delta Puts. This generates income, limiting losses in case of moderate stock price decline. •	Sell 100% notional, 1 to 3 month 0.2 delta Calls. This generates additional income, with limited upside risk. Notes: Hypothetical Payoff Diagram: Shows expected profit/loss based on the strategy. Actual Results May Vary: Due to daily mark-to-market of options positions. No Guarantees: Portfolio outcomes may differ, and there's no guarantee of similar results.


We define risk as the likelihood that a client fails to achieve their desired outcome.  

Jonathan Hobbs, Head of U.S. Solutions

Contact Us

We look forward to helping you with your investment needs