Speaker profile: Paul Skinner

As an investment director in Fixed Income Product Management, Paul works closely with fixed income investors to help ensure the integrity of their investment approaches. This includes meeting with investment teams on a regular basis and providing oversight of portfolio positioning, performance, and risk exposures as well as developing new products and client solutions and managing business issues such as capacity, fees, and guidelines. Paul also meets with clients, prospects, and consultants to communicate our investment philosophy, strategy, positioning, and performance. He is based in our London office. Prior to joining the firm in 2005, Paul worked as fixed income and currency product specialist at Gartmore (2001 – 2005). Before that, he was a business developer at WestLB Asset Management (1999 – 2001) and product specialist for Asset Allocation at Barings Asset Management (1998 – 1999). Paul spent four years in Singapore working for Standard Chartered Bank and Credit Agricole Bank as head of Investment Group (1994 – 1998). He started his career with nine years as a global fixed income and currency investment manager with CSFB Investment Management, SBC Portfolio Management, and Mercury Asset Management (1985 – 1994). Paul received his MA (1988) and BA (1985) in chemical engineering from Cambridge University. He is a member of the Securities Institute in London.

Topic Synopsis: How should you manage credit risk 10 years on from Northern Rock?
At the end of August 2007, investment-grade credit yielded over 5%. Two weeks later, a run on Northern Rock signalled the start of the global financial crisis in the UK, triggering an unprecedented policy response that has driven markets in the decade since. Investment-grade credit now yields just over 2%. As policymakers look to reverse course, what are the risks facing fixed income investors and how should they be managed.