Elevating your investments: What's new with Compass Portfolios

Strategic adjustments: always adapting for your benefit

At ATBIM, being proactive isn't just a philosophy, it's how we navigate your financial future. As 2025 began, we recognized the critical need for meticulous risk management, especially with an underweight position in international equities across our Compass Portfolios. In what has undeniably been a year of twists and turns, we've executed four significant adjustments to deftly adapt and enhance your portfolio's performance:

1. Balancing our equity exposure: We started the year with a slightly lower allocation to equities, but we adjusted this to a more neutral position. This was a strategic move to ensure your portfolio is appropriately positioned.
   
   
2. Capitalizing on international strength: International markets have performed exceptionally well this year, and we took advantage of this strength. By strategically shifting exposure towards earnings-rich US equities, we made a beneficial move that resulted in strong portfolio performance in the second quarter of 2025.
   
   
3. Fine-tuning our investments with new names: We’ve introduced new holdings to better manage the different “factor tilts” within your portfolios. Think of it as adding more tools to our toolkit, giving us greater flexibility to fine-tune regional exposures within Compass Portfolios.
   
   
4. Maintaining stability in bonds: While we continue to maintain a strong position in investment-grade bonds, we made a small strategic shift. We moved some allocation away from higher-yield corporate bonds back into investment grade.

These thoughtful adjustments have already delivered tangible, positive results, adding significant value to your portfolios in 2025.

The power behind your portfolios: our new fund managers

To truly enhance the Compass Portfolios, we’ve brought in four new underlying mandates, each managed by highly specialized sub-advisors. These additions are like adding new capabilities to your portfolio, offering fresh perspectives and diversification across various investment styles:

1. ATB US Large Cap Equity Fund (managed by Fiera Capital Corporation*): To complement our existing US equity exposure, we’ve partnered with Fiera Capital, an expert in large-cap growth investing. They have a proven track record of adding value. This fund provides your portfolio with exposure to growth-oriented companies in a risk-controlled manner, offering potential for increased capital appreciation.
   
   
2. ATB International Equity Income Fund (sub-advised by Goldman Sachs Asset Management): the Goldman Sachs Asset Management process seeks companies with sustainable yields and attractive valuations. This strategy offers opportunities to potentially mitigate downside protection, complementing your existing international exposure and offering  potential for stability and income. 
   
   
3. ATB International Disciplined Equity Fund (managed by RS Investments, a Victory Capital Investment Franchise): RS Investments, a manager with an excellent track record, brings a distinct “quality” bias, making this fund an ideal fit for Compass Portfolios. These managers are aware of regional and sector risks, thoughtfully avoiding speculative bets while still actively seeking out high quality companies with consistent track records of shareholder value creation and with improving sentiment. This disciplined approach aims to bring you resilient companies with robust fundamentals. 
   
   
4. ATB Emerging Market Equity Fund (managed by Driehaus Capital Management): Previously, emerging market exposure came primarily through our international managers. Now, with this fund managed by emerging market specialist, Driehaus, Compass Portfolios have a dedicated lever to access these dynamic markets. Their unique approach focuses on a company’s customer and operation base, not just its country of origin, opening new avenues for diversification and growth within your portfolio.

These new funds allow us to be more dynamic in managing different investment “tilts” within your portfolios. 

Ensuring top-tier management for your portfolios

At ATBIM, we employ a disciplined, multi-step process to search, select, and oversee our sub-advisors, ensuring they contribute to the long-term value and performance of your portfolios.

Our process begins by clearly defining the strategic need for a particular investment approach within our product platform and identifying the desired attributes for a manager. We then screen potential managers based on robust quantitative metrics, such as risk-adjusted performance and risk measures. This is followed by a thorough qualitative analysis, focusing on critical aspects like organizational stability, the experience of the investment team, the consistency of their investment discipline, and the reasonableness of their fees. Final approval is granted by an oversight committee after a comprehensive evaluation.

Once hired, our sub-advisors are continuously monitored through regular meetings, in-depth discussions, and ongoing analyses. This ensures they remain aligned with their stated philosophy, maintain consistent performance, and adhere to their investment processes. ATBIM rigorously assesses whether managers are adding long-term value, performing as expected, and avoiding 'style drift' or 'performance-chasing' behaviour. If necessary, a sub-advisor may be terminated for reasons such as deviation from their stated philosophy, persistent underperformance, loss of relevance, or significant changes in key personnel or firm structure. This active and dynamic approach reflects ATBIM's unwavering commitment to partnering with high-quality, independent investment managers.

Clear insights: our forward-looking perspective

The strategic integration of these new funds and the continued refinement of the Compass Portfolios truly demonstrate ATBIM's commitment to providing you with competitive and robust investment solutions. We’re dedicated to being better partners, helping you navigate the markets with confidence.