Investors need to focus on strong fundamentals and underwriting standards in 2020, according to Senior Vice President and Research Analyst Caroline Chen, in a recent conversation with Structured Credit Investor.
Chen believes that we are in the late stages of the credit cycle and facing geopolitical instability, and anticipates strong supply for the rest of 2019 while investors tap into debt markets at low interest rates.
For Chen, Income Research + Management’s ESG screening is a differentiator. “Almost all new issues are analyzed via our screening framework, and it forms part of our due diligence on issuers,” she explained. “We don’t have a specific ESG fund, but the screening provides an insight into how well issuers run their businesses. For example, it highlights how secure their IT infrastructure and operations are, and the potential for data breaches.”
