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Mandates & Strategies

Fixed Income Mandates

Our philosophy in managing fixed income portfolios is based on two fundamental beliefs:

  1. All decisions and strategies are based on the Preservation of Capital,
  2. The opportunities, with quantifiable risk, within bond markets, rewards an Active Management approach.

Preservation of Capital

In an effort to protect our clients’ capital, we focus our research and the resulting portfolio on high quality issuers. The assessment of quality is based on internal credit analysis and a qualitative judgment based on our outlook. In addition to our emphasis on high quality, we approach the research process with a conservative mindset. This conservatism has meant that we do not rely solely on the credit rating agencies. While we review their opinions, we believe that it is important to complete first hand research of the security covenants, company fundamentals, industry forces and legislation, that might affect the holdings in our portfolio.

Active Management

We believe market volatility and inefficient markets allow for an active approach to bond management that can add value to portfolio results over the long run, while helping to reduce risks in the portfolio. Our philosophy towards active management is based on three principles: an approach that considers both capital gains and income in decision-making, gradualism, and the capturing of incremental gains.

Money Market Mandates

Guardian’s fixed income approach is based on the beliefs that every decision should tend toward preserving capital and that bond markets can reward active management.

We preserve capital by focusing on high-quality issuers and augmenting public credit ratings with our own hands-on research of security covenants, company fundamentals, industry trends and regulatory conditions. Our active management of bond portfolios is designed to reduce risk while capturing incremental gains through both capital gains and income.

These beliefs are consistently applied across a full range of fixed income strategies and within many of our clients’ highly-customized portfolios.

Socially Responsible Mandates

At Guardian, we believe that our clients’ financial goals should never be at odds with their personal values. It is the reason we have created a partnership with a dedicated team of socially responsible investing (SRI) professionals who can help our clients strike the right balance. The team is able to pursue investment results based on our best thinking and most rigorous financial analysis models while also adhering to environmental, social, and governance criteria.

Customized Mandates

Guardian Capital’s breadth of investment capabilities and depth of portfolio management expertise allows us to offer customized solutions for achieving clients’ evolving needs.

Some examples of customized strategies include managing liability-focused fixed income mandates to match duration and/or cashflow requirements and diversified dividend portfolios based on investors’ yield requirements.

Please contact us to discuss how Guardian can work with you to create a customized solution to achieve your unique investment requirements.