Asymmetric Returns: The Future of Active Asset Management

In Asymmetric Returns, financial expert Alexander Ineichen elevates the critical discussion about alpha versus beta and absolute returns versus relative returns. He argues that controlling downside volatility is a key element in asset management if sustainable positive compounding of capital and financial survival are major objectives. Achieving sustainable positive absolute returns are the result of taking and managing risk wisely, that is, an active risk management process where risk is defined in absolute terms and changes in the market place are accounted for. The result of an active risk management process-when successful-is an asymmetric return profile, that is, more and higher returns on the upside and fewer and lower returns on the downside. Ineichen claims that achieving Asymmetric Returns is the future of active asset management.

Alexander M. Ineichen, CFA, CAIA, is Managing Director and Senior Investment Officer for the Alternative Investment Solutions team, a key provider within Alternative and Quantitative Investments, itself a business within UBS Global Asset Management. He is also on the Board of Directors of the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst Association (CAIAA). Ineichen is the author of the two UBS research publications In Search of Alpha—Investing in Hedge Funds (October 2000) and The Search for Alpha Continues—Do Fund of Hedge Funds Add Value? (September 2001). As of 2006 these two reports were the most often printed research papers in the documented history of UBS. He is also author of the widely popular Absolute Returns—The Risk and Opportunities of Hedge Fund Investing, also published by John Wiley & Sons.

Alexander M. Ineichen, CFA, CAIA, is Managing Director and Senior Investment Officer for the Alternative Investment Solutions team, itself a business within UBS Global Asset Management. In October 2000, Ineichen authored In Search of Alpha: Investing in Hedge Funds, which has become the most often printed research publication in the documented history of UBS Investment Bank. He has published several papers in peer-refereed financial journals, contributed numerous articles and chapters to financial newspapers, magazines, and books, and regularly speaks at industry conferences. Ineichen is also on the Board of Directors of CAIAA (Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst Association) and is the author of the widely popular Absolute Returns: The Risk and Opportunities of Hedge Fund Investing (Wiley).