Economist - Treasury & Investment Office - Multi Asset

At M&G our vision is: to become the best loved and most successful savings and investment business and we're looking for people who are excited about joining us on our journey. We're digitally transforming and investing heavily in technology and innovation to develop new and improved customer propositions that really raise the bar for our customers. To help us achieve our vision we're looking for exceptional people who live our values and behaviours and who can inspire others; embrace change; deliver results and keep it simple.

We know that an inclusive environment makes us more accessible and ensures we attract, engage, promote and retain exceptional people. We welcome applications from all individuals regardless of age, gender/gender identity, sexual orientation, ethnicity/nationality, disability, or military service and welcome those who have taken career breaks. We will consider flexible working arrangements or home working arrangements for any of our roles.

What you can expect from us:
We are committed to creating an environment where you can be exceptional at all you do. To help us deliver this, we promise to:

• Challenge Your Limits by creating a stimulating working environment and providing opportunities for you to be involved in meaningful and challenging work
• Support Your Aspirations with a commitment to learning and development that helps you achieve and build your experience with people who want you to succeed
• Value Your Input whereby leaders and managers will involve you in key decisions, listen to your thoughts and recognise the important contribution you make
• Balance Your Life through a work life partnership that focuses on making this an inclusive, diverse and friendly place to work and offers the flexibility and support that enables everyone to be at their best

How do we support our employees:
All M&G plc employees will be supported in the workplace through our M&G Employee Assistance Programme (EAP). If you need counselling, confidential financial or legal advice. The service is available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year and offers access to qualified professionals who can provide specialist information, advice and support on many issues. It offers a broad range of services, including help with family issues, maintaining work/life balance and mental health support.

Background

The M&G plc Treasury & Investment Office (T&IO) is responsible for the management of Prudential UK's With-Profits, Annuity and Unit-Linked funds, with more than £150bn of funds under management. T&IO works closely with the various asset management businesses within the M&G plc Group, and other external managers, to structure multi-asset portfolios aligned with the investment objectives of our clients. Role

The Long Term Investment Strategy team (LTIS) determines the optimal Strategic Asset Allocation (SAA) and the strategic hedging policies for Prudential's multi-asset portfolios. As part of this, LTIS develops its proprietary capital markets assumptions and stochastic modelling capabilities to model the risks, returns and correlations between different asset class, asset sub-classes and macro-economic factors across different geographies over the medium to long term. Additionally, these assumptions and modelling capabilities are used internally within the M&G Group by Finance and Product Development.

The role is for an Economist focussing on the Capital Markets and Economic research that supports the production of the Capital Markets assumptions as well as the SAA. The role also supports other team activities such as Hedging/ALM strategy design, Product design and Distribution support and others as required. The key responsibilities as described in the next section.

Key responsibilities:

The individual will support the following processes within the team:

• Capital Markets and Economic Research - Provide M&G a regular update on the Economics and Capital Markets Research, globally and across a range of geographic regions to a list of interested readers. These will be captured in a monthly pack and also feature into regular publications to the IO Assumptions Committee as well as provide input into the SAA exercise. The research will include thematic pieces as well as any scenario analysis (e.g. Covid and Brexit) carried out which could be used by other parts of the business. This includes any support required by the business to understand and embed the scenarios into BAU.

• Capital Markets Assumptions - Provide the company with a full term structure of assumptions based on its medium and long term equilibrium economic views, including views on expectations of returns across a wide spectrum of asset classes and geographies, as well as its views on volatilities and correlations across these asset classes. We shall also create position papers on new, existing and evolving opportunities (supported by Capital Markets and Economic research carried out by the team) . These will be captured in a consolidated document detailing these views on a bi-annual basis to relevant stakeholders. These form an output of the SAA exercise.

• Hedging & ALM Strategy - Provide advice and recommendations to Prudential on the appropriate hedging or ALM strategy for the Funds related to market risks (e.g. inflation and currency), investment risks (e.g. equity level, equity volatility), credit risks, liquidity risks and operational risks. The general objective of the LTIS' advice and recommendations will be to optimise the cost / benefit trade-off of the proposed hedge, bearing in mind the level of risk appetite agreed with the relevant UK&E Companies, and considering other factors and constraints as appropriate. Where appropriate, they will use a Replicating Portfolio Approach. All the advice given would be consistent with fund objectives as well as wider business objectives (e.g. improving customer outcomes)

• Product Design & Distribution Support - Provide support to Product Proposition and Distribution teams in terms of amending existing products and collaborating on ideas for new products. Strategically understand more about the products and distribution platform aspects of M&G and provide support as required to meet the company's strategic objectives. This includes for example any new product initiatives such as ESG compliant funds

• LIBOR - Provide support to the IBOR Transition Programme, facilitating and aiding the Programme in achieving its goals of managing the transition of exposure away from IBOR into alternative rates in the best interest of M&G plc's clients.

• Board and Committee Papers on SAA and ALM/Hedging - Draft the Board and Committee papers on SAA and ALM/Hedging, with inputs from the relevant UK&E stakeholders, including Risk and Finance and IO teams as appropriate, in the formation of their recommendations. It shall provide advice and recommendations on the SAA and ALM/Hedging on a regular basis to the relevant company Boards and Committees for approval.

• Business Development Support - Provide support to Business Development as required (e.g. on asset allocation and medium to long term economic themes). This support the wider business objective of the sales and distribution teams.

• Other - Provide Support to the Director of Long Term Investment Strategy, as required.

Responsibilities for all employees:

• To understand and demonstrate positive conduct in line our purpose, values and behaviours.
• To understand the Company's Sustainability vision and apply the Sustainability Strategy as appropriate for your role.

Requirements and experience:

This role is ideally suited to someone who can demonstrate:

Core:

• Excellent attention to detail
• Good communication skills
• A flexible and adaptable approach
• Build good relationships internally and externally
• Ability to work within a team environment
• Effective analytical skills (if applicable)
• Client and delivery focused
• Good planning and organisational skills
• Effective problem solving skills

Qualifications:

• Minimum Bachelors degree in numerate subject
• A graduate degree in economics or similar
• CFA (or studying towards) preferred

Experience:

• A minimum of two years' experience as an economist or working in a top-down, macroeconomic asset allocation process

We live by four behaviours at M&G and we ask all our employees to:

• Inspire Others - Support and encourage each other, creating an environment where everyone can contribute and succeed
• Embrace Change - Be open to change, willing to be challenged and able to adapt quickly and imaginatively to new ideas
• Deliver Results - Focus on outcomes, set high standards and deliver with energy and determination
• Keep it Simple - Cut through complexity and bureaucracy, be clear and decisive and never overcomplicate things