Securitised Credit
Adopting a global dynamic relative value approach – unlocking the best opportunities
Getting to know securitised credit
Securitised Credit delivers diversification benefits - given the low correlations to traditional fixed income, which makes the asset class appealing to institutional investors
In focus
Securitised Credit
- Yield premium: Securitised Credit offers a pickup in yield to similarly rated corporate bonds. This is largely the result of complexity and illiquidity premiums. Adding Securitised Credit to an income portfolio can enhance portfolio yield without increasing credit risk or duration. This makes the asset class appealing from a cash flow perspective, making it potentially useful for clients requiring a Cash Flow Driven Investment solution
- Diversification: The low interest rate sensitivity of Securitised Credit and its low correlation with traditional asset classes makes it an appealing asset class for institutional investors to consider from a diversification standpoint
- Spread compression: With credit spreads remaining wide, Securitised Credit offers the potential for spread tightening and capital appreciation as the global economy begins to slow
- Tranche structure: Securitised Credit enables diversified exposure to an illiquid, hard to access, asset class via a tranche structure. Investors in the senior tranche are exposed to less risk and therefore lower returns, as they receive interest and principal payments from the collateral first. Investors in the subordinate tranches are exposed to more risk, but greater return, as the tranches effectively provide 'leveraged' exposure to the collateral
HSBC Asset Management
- Active management: Opportunities move regularly in Securitised Credit and investors should be willing to move to unlock the asset class's wider potential. We focus on delivering value to clients by allocating to the best relative value ideas on a globally dynamic basis
- Global approach: Many competitors focus on investing in the US or European markets only. We focus on delivering value by looking at the entire global opportunity set. This enables the team to be invested in every region, every sector and every rating. As well as providing access to specific US-only sectors such as Single-Family Rentals for European only investors
- ESG integration: ESG is central to what we do so we have developed a proprietary scoring system where we look at the environmental, social and governance aspects of the investments that we make. We revisit that over the life of the holding. The outcome of this part of our process is that certain transactions may be excluded from our funds
- Highly experienced team: Our team at HSBC holds an average of 18 years of experience. Each sector within Securitised Credit (e.g., CMBS, RMBS, CLOs) has a dedicated Portfolio Manager and Analyst, allowing a global value approach to be taken in unlocking the potential within Securitised Credit
Source: HSBC Asset Management as at 31 December 2023
Key risks
The value of investments and any income from them can go down as well as up and investors may not get back the amount originally invested.
- Interest Rate Risk: As interest rates rise debt securities will fall in value. The value of debt is inversely proportional to interest rate movements.
- Counterparty Risk: The possibility that the counterparty to a transaction may be unwilling or unable to meet its obligations.
- Credit Risk: Issuers of debt securities may fail to meet their regular interest and/or capital repayment obligation. All credit instruments therefore have the potential for default. Higher yielding securities are more likely to default.
- Default Risk: The issuers of certain bonds could become unwilling or unable to make payments on their bonds.
- Emerging Markets Risk: Emerging markets are less established, and often more volatile, than developed markets and involve higher risks, particularly market, liquidity and currency risks.
- Exchange Rate Risk: Investing in assets denominated in a currency other than that of the investor’s own currency perspective exposes the value of the investment to exchange rate fluctuations.
- Investment Leverage Risk: Investment Leverage occurs when the economic exposure is greater than the amount invested, such as when derivatives are used. A Fund that employs leverage may experience greater gains and/or losses due to the amplification effect from a movement in the price of the reference source.
- Asset Backed Securities (ABS) Risk: ABS are typically constructed from pools of assets (e.g. mortgages) that individually have an option for early settlement or extension, and have potential for default. Cash flow terms of the ABS may change and significantly impact both the value and liquidity of the contract.
- Derivative Risk: The value of derivative contracts is dependent upon the performance of an underlying asset. A small movement in the value of the underlying can cause a large movement in the value of the derivative. Unlike exchange traded derivatives, over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives have credit risk associated with the counterparty or institution facilitating the trade.
- High Yield Risk: Higher yielding debt securities characteristically bear greater credit risk than investment grade and/or government securities.
- Liquidity Risk: Liquidity is a measure of how easily an investment can be converted to cash without a loss of capital and/or income in the process. The value of assets may be significantly impacted by liquidity risk during adverse markets conditions.
- Operational Risk: The main risks are related to systems and process failures. Investment processes are overseen by independent risk functions which are subject to independent audit and supervised by regulators.
Further information on the potential risks can be found in the Key Investor Information Document (KIID) and/ or the Prospectus or Offering Memorandum.