Wealth & Finance June 2017

9 June 2017 of our activities, our risk manager statistically analyzes all trading results on daily basis.” We then asked Roland how the company maintains their low transaction cost structure; “Another crucial advantage is the low-cost transaction fee structure AET has managed to achieve with our partners. Due to our excellent relationship with elite service providers like clearing brokers, banks and exchanges, our management team have negotiated execution costs as low as the ones of big global institutions. For us, this is a crucial aspect - due to the high transactional volume the company performs to generate many small profits out of relatively narrow movements.” Well known amongst his colleagues and partners for his expertise in sta- tistical performance measurement, Roland was invited as a speaker on this subject to the Hedge Fund Brazil Forum in Rio de Janeiro in 2012. For Roland, expressions like rate of return or beating the benchmark are vague performance measurements if not set into relation to at least a second relevant statistical figure. When choosing a managed futures fund or CTA, it is important to ensure the manager has a proven bio and track record but it is also advisable to check the magnitude and dura- tion of the programs worst drawdown, or cumulative loss in value from any peak in performance to the subsequent low. According to Roland, measures like drawdown relative to return, volatility relative to return, also known as Sharpe Ratio, and especially downside deviation relative to return are very good indications of the quality of an investment re- garding a mathematical risk/reward perspective and it is precisely where AET ranks highest compared to its peers. Discussing how the company manages operational risk, Roland tells us that all managers at AET consider protection of investors’ money as the highest priority and that AET maintains operational risk procedures of the highest standards. All trading lines are backed up several times and in the unlikely case of loss of connection of the dedicated leased line positions can be liquidated via satellite mobile data infrastructure or simply by phone call with the clearing broker. We asked Roland how the company feels investors can get most out of their portfolios and how he continues to advise individuals and provide the best advisory and management services for them; “Most investors have a too small portion of their portfolios allocated to alternative investments. As in the past years’ equity markets were artificially driven by Central Bank action and low interest rates. Investors have become too comfortable with investing long in equities via ETFs. This mistake has not come to the surface yet. They are slowly but surely creating the mother of all equity bubbles. Taking in consideration the unprecedented geopolitical tensions between the world’s super powers, the insecurity regarding the future development of the European Union, the difficulties in the economic environment in China and the uncertain- ty regarding the future economic and geopolitical behavior of the United States I would advise investors to have at least 10% rather 20% of their assets in alternative investments. Preferably those investments should be performed in liquid programs such as managed futures. Finally, we asked Roland to sum up how he feels about his company’s performance, successes and receiving the Best Investment Manager – Worldwide award at the 2017 Alternative Investment Elite Awards. “As we have only recently opened our program to external investors receiving the award for Best Investment manager - Worldwide is a great honor and at the same time it gives credit to our work and dedication. For AET this award is the first distinction for our achievements and as