Quants pitch strategies for when bonds no longer work

Investors are flocking to alternative diversifiers of equity risk

For institutional investors, the language of diversification is changing.

The classic 60/40 rule and voguish ‘all weather’ portfolios of alternative risk premia are giving way to less familiar terms: statistical hedging, outcome-oriented strategies and the defensive frontier.

This is how quants describe strategies designed to replace bonds as a diversifier in portfolios. The common goal is to offset growing exposure to equity risk but without the negative carry of costly derivatives hedges.

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