Strategic Income Strategy

Managing Risk the Fort Washington Way
A comprehensive risk management framework is at the heart of our investment philosophy. This article explores the principles and the values that drive Fort Washington’s belief that the measurement of risk and return, not forecasting, should drive investment decisions.

Risk Budgeting Applied to Fixed Income
At the core of Fort Washington's risk management framework is the use of a risk budget. Our risk budgeting process is made more efficient and consistent through our measure of credit risk, Index Equivalent Spread Duration.

Enhancing Risk Management With IESD
The significance of risk management at Fort Washington drove the development of our proprietary credit risk metric, Index Equivalent Spread Duration (IESD). This piece explores how Fort Washington integrates IESD into its risk management framework to enhance portfolio performance and mitigate credit risk effectively.

An Innovative Approach to Measuring Spread Risk
Index Equivalent Spread Duration adjusts for two effects not addressed by spread duration—the tendency of riskier bonds to experience larger spread moves and the tendency of short maturity bonds to demonstrate more spread volatility than long maturity bonds. This piece explores how Fort Washington captures these effects by applying a spread and maturity beta to a bond’s spread duration.

Mid-Quarter Fixed Income Update – 2Q 2024
Fort Washington is positioning fixed income portfolios with modest risk for 2Q 2024 amid tight spreads and economic uncertainties. This article explores the impact of Fed policy changes, persistent inflation, and mixed economic signals on investment strategies.

Finding Opportunity in Securitized Products
Securitized markets have matured notably in the last 10 to 15 years and may offer attractive yields and diversification. This paper outlines the evolution of Securitized Products and how investors may benefit from allocating to the growing asset class.