Under Roman, Pimco has continued to focus on actively managed funds even as money pours into low-fee index-tracking products across the industry. U.S. active managers saw assets in their funds dip in May from a year earlier as the spread of the coronavirus sent equity markets swinging wildly.
Roman, 56, became CEO of Pimco, a unit of Allianz SE, in 2016 after heading Man Group Plc and spending 18 years at Goldman Sachs Group Inc.
Roman also said:
• Pimco’s traders will be expected to work in the office. Already, 75% of its staff in Asia has returned to their desks. “We need all hands on deck.”
• China will be a big point of contention in the U.S. presidential election. Many U.S. companies will also move away from using China as a source because the Covid-19 pandemic brought home the need to diversify supply chains.
• The U.S. economy probably won’t return to 2019-level gross domestic product until the end of 2021.
• The housing and technology sectors are strong, but it’s harder to tell about the recovery for retail, leisure, gaming and oil and gas.
•Pimco is putting together funds to match liquidity with the long-term recovery it expects. “The ability to deploy capital to restructuring is the opportunity to deliver outsized returns.”
• Pimco expects to grow organically. Mergers and acquisitions are difficult over Zoom.
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.