Willerfunds was established in 1985 as an instrument for Swiss private bank Banque Morval to manage its clients' assets in investment segments where picking individual stocks or bonds was not the most cost- and risk-effective solution. It then became a showcase of the bank's skills on various investment themes. Finally, we realised that many investors shared our philosophy and approach and that of our specialist funds appealed to them. This is particularly true of our equity fund range focusing on Emerging Markets.
Our funds share a common philosophy:
we know that markets do not always go up; capital protection is a dimension which has to be built into the management of any investment theme; it is crucial in the case of equity investment in Emerging Markets; in this case, we cut risk by investing in a region, not a single country; we try to cut volatility, to lose less than the index in a downturn and match - or outperform - the index in a bull market: over time, this should (and does) translates into a better performance than the benchmark, particularly on a risk-adjusted basis (Sharpe ratio).
they are managed as building blocks suited for the construction of portfolios by financial advisors or private banks; we do not recommend them on a "stand alone" basis to individual investors who do not have expertise in investment. Professional advice is key, and professional advisors are our primary partners.
Are we "absolute return" investors ? We aim to be, with a proviso: in a market downturn, we'll try to lose less than the index and than most of our competitors, but we know we may still lose money, at least for a while. We regard this as a necessary price to pay in order to benefit from another fact of life: over time, markets go up; risk should be harnessed, not avoided. "Absolute return" should not be a meek excuse for sub-par performance in rising markets. We accept the challenge of this apparent contradiction. We do it in a way which blends money management expertise and an overriding concern not to betray the trust that each one of our clients has in us.
