Overlay services

Control cash, currency, or asset class exposures using systematic risk overlay strategies to reduce daily operational burdens and streamline access to market opportunities.

Russell Investments' seasoned specialists provide you with the expertise and resources to design and implement a customized investment framework to improve the visibility and control of the underlying exposures in your portfolio.

Our comprehensive overlay program brings the resources and experience to help your organization:

Reduce the operational burden

Improve portfolio risk/return profile

Lower transaction costs

Our suite of overlay services

Cash equitization

Maintain your liquidity and desired market exposure by using derivative overlay strategies to access equity and/or bond exposures. When cash levels change our turnkey management service adjusts those exposures and handles all downstream aspects of managing those positions.

Policy implementation

A disciplined rebalancing plan helps to manage the drift in exposures from your Strategic Asset Allocation (SAA) over time. With daily oversight of portfolio positioning, our team manages exposures to asset classes via overlay transactions effectively solving cash drag and rebalancing policy issues simultaneously.

LDI and Dynamic de-risking

As funded situation improves risk tolerance often reduces. An overlay provides a cost-effective and timely implementation of the new target exposures and achieves the desired asset allocation when market opportunity arises. A common form of such a mandate is an LDI glide path which, systematically implements the asset allocation and hedge ratio changes quickly as targets are met.

Downside risk management

Reduce the magnitude of drawdowns in portfolio value from significant market declines. Russell Investments offers risk management tools to support institutional investors in managing and maintaining their exposure to risk over the long term without bearing the full downside risk of major market corrections.

Why choose Russell Investments as your overlay portfolio management partner

Six important factors

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Dedicated specialist team

A dedicated portfolio manager with low client-to-portfolio-manager ratio and access to asset class specialist traders

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Flexible approach

Extended capabilities deliver total exposure management with solutions adapted as your portfolio changes and grows

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Continuous coverage

24-hour multi-asset trading: Asset class specialists cover a network of developed and emerging markets

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Foreign exchange (FX) expertise

Protect your portfolio from currency movements using industry-leading FX platform and specialist FX traders

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Customized solutions

Tailored global futures baskets and OTC expertise to better manage risk and seek improved returns

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Robust risk management

Detailed compliance protocols with separated compliance review and agency-only approach

17 specialists

Global Overlay specialists, including
10 CFA Charterholders

$790 million

Average derivatives position per multi-asset Overlay client

$1.9 trillion

Derivatives traded in 2021

1 Quoted figures above are as of December 31, 2021 in USD.

Tech-enabled
client solutions

Our global team of overlay specialists is experienced at tackling the more complex and challenging investment problems facing institutional investors using our proprietary technology and systems:

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Proprietary system for aggregating account-level data to enable overlay management

24-hour agency-only global trading desk with specialization by market segment

Proprietary quantitative systems for managing futures tracking error to customizable benchmarks

Seamless integration of physical and overlay trading via trade order management system for more complex solutions

Recent blog posts

Hear from our experts on the latest issues our clients care about most

Customized Portfolio Solutions

Specialist expertise and strategies to help your team gain greater portfolio control, limit costs, reduce risk, and enhance returns.

Transition management

Managing assets in transition to minimize unnecessary costs and mitigate unrewarded risk.

Currency management

Manage foreign exchange (FX) trading costs and currency risk by drawing upon our currency investment team and FX trading specialists.

Trading & execution

Execution solutions to achieve enhanced returns using the latest advances in technology to find liquidity, reduce transaction costs and manage risk.

Completion portfolios

Improve control of exposures and risk-adjusted returns and reduce the cost of production while keeping your investments precisely aligned to your beliefs without sacrificing the power of a multi-manager approach.

WHAT'S NEXT

We'd love to talk.

Chris Wright 

Please reach out to me directly through this form.

Chris Wright

Director,
Canada Institutional Sales

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